Unexpected Repopulation (cont)
by DreamForMusic
Summary: The population of the vault has dwindled into almost nothing, with the class of 2274 only being 8 people. So, what happens when the daughter of the doctor is forced to marry the vault's serpent King... This is the continuation of the story which was originally by LillaLu, who has discontinued the story and given it to me.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: I know that some of you have already seen this story: Unexpected Reputation. That's because, the truly amazingly author, LillaLu, had discontinued the story a while back. However, she had graciously handed the story to me to finish, and I'm really thankful and glad I'm going to get to finish this amazing story.

Chapter 1 – The Announcement

It was no surprise to have an unexpected vault meeting while Alphonse was the Overseer. For as long as I can remember, he was prone to springing things on the Vault so that we are always on our toes, probably calling it a public service, when in reality it is just a nuisance. At least this time I am prepared, because I'm the reason this meeting is being adjourned. You see, it had been a long time since anyone has called for the necessity of a new career, and even longer since one has been created, so when I called for the need for someone specialized in the field of childbirth, I, along with everyone, was surprised that the Overseer actually took to the idea. Father and I assumed it was because of his wife passing on years after because of complications with Amata's birth, or because of his infatuation with my mother. He was always jealous of Father for winning over Catherine's love, probably blames him for her death as well, but I knew it wasn't Father's fault for what happened. While I was interning to become a Doctor alongside Father and Jonas, I had strayed from Father's word, and looked up the report, who was the interning Doctor at the time, my mother's father being the commanding Doctor at the time. As I was being born, something had torn through her U***, and so when she went into cardiac arrest, it was completely undetectable from someone who hadn't had the proper training, and so nothing could have been done. When Father had found out what I had done, he had kept it to himself, the only recollection I had found was his almost silent sobs in the night coming from his room. I didn't cross his warnings ever again, feeling completely guilty for my complete disregard for his feelings.

In any case, it was a necessity, as my father was scarred from the traumatic event, and so when a woman, though very far and few between, comes in with the intent to give birth, it almost always fell upon Jonas. No matter the motive, I still was able to gain the job of OBGYN within the vault, and so this meeting was to announce the new opening of the career, as well as recruit midwives from the existing pool of working women.

"Do you have your case notes sweetie?" Father queried from his office, rushing to get things ready for the meeting.

"Yes Father, everything I need is ready," I respond as I finish my suture on the forehead on the one man in the entire Vault that makes everyone's life totally miserable (my life in particular always seemed to be his favorite), Butch Alexander Deloria. He started to snicker, coming out warped because he was holding his broken nose from the umpteenth time he decided to pick a fight with an officer who had apparently wronged him in some way. When I moved to set his nose again, I made sure to make it hurt just a little. He stopped snickering, his breath coming out hitched as he glared at me.

"It was an accident," I lied, a smirk willing itself onto my face.

"Bitch. You'll regret that later, girl!" Butch snapped, just for his nose to start pouring out blood. I quickly held the cloth to his nose, beckoning him to take the reins so that I could continue getting ready for the meeting. Just as he takes the cloth, the Overseer, Alphonse, comes on over the PA systems, blaring out for everyone to come to the Atrium.

"And will Jonas Palmer, Lillian Lunah, and James Lunah Head down to the Atrium as soon as possible?" He stated, obviously annoyed at the fact that we were expected a few minutes earlier, but of course, a certain Serpent King came at just the wrong moment, and Father hadn't been able to get his case notes sorted and ready to go, so, to the highness of the Vault, we were holding everyone up.

"Dad, Jonas, we got to go," I state, taking the tray of dirty cloths and other medical tools over to the sink to be washed later.

"We're moving," Jonas stated, a smile ever so prominently plastered on his face. He was always cheery, which is probably why I considered him my second dad. Father wasn't always able to take care of me, so Jonas took the initiative to be there when I needed him. He was always around for the both of them for as long as I can remember.

"Butch, you can go now," I state, seeing that he is still sitting on the gurney in the corner of the room. He grunts in reply, mumbling something no doubt rude before standing and walking out of the medical ward, the exact opposite direction of the atrium. Jonas and I chuckle at this just for Father to come out of his office, a clipboard in one hand, a file in the other, walking like he wasn't holding the two of us up.

"It took you thirty minutes to gather up that?" I ask as I flank him, tipping my head to try and make out the label on the folder. He moves it out of my sight out of instinct, like he expected it, which in truth he should.

"I had to wade through every file for the right one sweetie," He replies, a little calmer than he had been all morning. He was still stressed, for what reason I have no clue, but at least he wasn't snappy.

"I think that you are worrying too much about this presentation. Lilly is very qualified, and I doubt she will need anything more than her smooth words and calm demeanor," Jonas praised, winking at me just out of Father's peripheral.

"I understand that Jonas, but it doesn't hurt to be prepared." He snapped. He realized quickly how he had been asking, apologizing quickly.

As we neared the Atrium, I felt the worry seep in, the thought of making a fool out of myself very persistent.

'What if no one wants to join my cause?' I thought, knowing that my friend, Amata would never join. She likes her Supervisory job too much to leave for something in the medical field, and only women are allowed to take the job as the only mandatory regulation. When we entered, my nerves were set tenfold as I looked across the room at the almost full Atrium. The percentage of women to men was a little over 50/50 favoring the women's side, only because a few of the elder women outlived their husbands. Out of the 100 Vault dwellers within the vault, there was a considerably prominent amount of people considered "Over the Hill" as some people call it, taking about 50 people younger than 45. Out of the other 50, a lot of the women were at the top of the age limit, like Beatrice, who is a lot older than my father (But still feels the need to flirt with him). There are very few under the age of 35, like Ellen, Butch's mother, who is the same age as both my Mother and Father. Her and Father Get along well enough, still occasionally going over to each other's houses to drink coffee and chat, even after everything that happened when Butch and I were still childhood friends. Wow, I had almost entirely forgotten that. As we walked up the makeshift stage and took our seats on in the back opposite of the councilors.

Butch and I were friends, an odd thought. It happened naturally, as we would spend every waking moment either at Ellen's home or my own. It was an agreement that had happened shortly after Ellen told my parents she was pregnant, and Alexander, Butch's father, had passed away from a freak accident in the reactor room, sacrificing himself so that Stanley and the rest of the maintenance track could get out safely. He hadn't even gotten to know that Ellen was pregnant, and Ellen tried to slip into drinking while she carried Butch, her own father shutting her out of his life after he found out she was pregnant without being married. She had even moved in because my mother was worried about her and the baby, so she came up with the idea that her and Father would help Ellen raise the baby, which when Butch was born and Mother had found out she was just out of her first trimester with me, she was ecstatic that Butch would have me to play with in his boredom. It hit hard when my mother passed away, and Ellen decided to help my father take care of me.

Beatrice always tried to say she helped the most, but Ellen even breastfed me with Butch so that I wouldn't miss out on the nutrition I needed. We would spend the weekdays with Ellen for the entirety, and with Father the rest of the time. At one point, Butch had a bed in my room, and we would share at his home, never squabbling with each other. That all changed when we went to school. The first couple of months had gone off without a hitch, but it didn't take long for the two of them to get made fun of. Wally had called me a name, and Butch naturally tried to fight it, but when the insults turned on him, he couldn't handle it. He ended up calling me nosebleed, and tripped me just as class was getting out. I don't know if he did it on purpose or not, all I do know is that I ended up getting a nosebleed, and cried all the way to the medical ward, where I told on him, and that was the last time I saw Butch outside of school.

I was shaken out of my daze by the Overseer greeted the crowd, his voice resonating through the speakers right behind our heads, causing an awful ringing in my ears.

"Hello," The Overseer greets as enthusiastically as he can, which isn't really much to be completely honest, "Sorry for the intrusion on your daily lives, but this was a matter that is a matter that I wished to bring to the light, seeing as it has crippled many of our Vault Residence over the ye…" the Overseer was rudely interrupted by a slamming noise at one of the entrances at the back of the Atrium, followed by a muffled guffaw of multiple owners as the door slides open, revealing none other than Butch Deloria, and his band of misfit boys that use to make up her class. They all silenced themselves somewhat, a few chuckles erupting as they stared at each other.

"Sorry oh grand Overseer, we got caught up with some unfinished business," Butch stated as his friends and him took their seats, forcing a group of men a few years their senior get up out of the seats they had come on time to get. It made me mad, but I spent enough time fighting others battles and getting the tar knocked out of me to worry about them at this minute.

"Well, if there are no more interruptions," the Overseer paused, getting an approving grunt out of Butch before continuing, "Alright, as I was saying, many of you know, whether it is from personal experience or otherwise, we have seen a number of mortality in both infants and their mothers." I grabbed Fathers hand, knowing that this bout of information would be hard to hear, "In the past, we never really saw this problem because of the high number of doctors the past, but since about fifty years ago, with the drop of our population, we have seen fewer and fewer individuals with the knack for the medical field, now being the highest amount of doctors in a very long time. Before the war, doctors would go to special schools for ten years for all the information they need to know before choosing the specialty they wanted. We don't have that luxury, and so we are stuck with cramming ten years' worth of information into a couple months of training. There is no wonder why the mortality rate is so high, and this scares a lot of young women into second guessing if they want to become mothers in the future."

"One woman in particular has brought it to my attention that with the population dwindling to almost nothing, there would be less doctors, which would continue the unprepared nature of things. She stated that we can't have a doctor for every field, but if there was at least one specialist to help make sure the mother and child come out of childbirth process, than that will help the continuation of this Vaults success. So I would like to announce for the first time in this Vaults history, a new career as an Obstetrician Gynecologist or OBGYN. The career will only be given to women," There was booing in the back of the Atrium, no doubt from Butch and his boys, "And only one can stand in this job until she is reaching the end of her years and wishes to train someone to take her place. Now this woman has also brought to my attention that in the case that the OBGYN is unable to help with the birth of a child, that she will need some associates to help with this endeavor, as well as check the in home life. Well, I think I have done all I can to explain it, so I will let the newest addition to our medical staff to the stage to explain the rest."

The Overseer outstretched his hand in my direction, calling me to the microphone. As I stood, I straightened out my lab coat and dress beneath it, walking as gracefully careful as I could. I could feel my palms sweating, along with the urge to run and hide in a distant supply closet somewhere within this vault. What was worse was that I couldn't get the ideas that everything wrong was going to happen out of my head, enticing the fight or flight subroutine more and more plausible. I stopping just beside the Overseer so that he could move out of the way.

I stepped in front of the microphone as he does so, greeting the crowd with a, "Hello. Okay, let's get down to business." I look down long enough to pull my notes up on my Pipboy, looking back at the crowd before continuing. "I am not going to lie to you, in this career you will see a lot of upsetting things, as well as things you would label nothing less than a miracle. Birth is one of the most amazing things our bodies can do, and it is also a grueling thing that task to not take lightly. This job will be a lot of work, and isn't for the light hearted, or the light stomached…" The room began to set into a little fit of laughter, meaning people were definitely listening, "I have 4 job opening that I need to fill, which will in tale helping me with exams, the birth, and care for the mother and children while they are in our care. It will also be teaching the women things like how to breastfeed properly, how to change diapers, and whatever else she needs to know to care for her baby. There will also be times when the woman goes into labor at home, or when I am already helping a woman in labor, that you will have to help women give birth. As of now, there is no one in the Vault expecting any children, and even if there was, I will not expect anything of you until you are completely trained. Now, I won't dawdle any longer," I state, glancing over to see the Overseer tapping his watch, "Those of you who wish to take this job instead of your current one, raise your hand. Know that this is your only chance to sign up, and that if there is more than 4 people volunteer." As I finish, the worry sets in only to be obliterated by the sheer number of women who have raised their hand. I start marking all the names down before calling them out to place their hand back to their side, pleasantly surprised to see Christine had raised her hand. She was the only girl in our class that didn't outwardly go between hating me and liking me as Susie and Amata had. We were always polite and quiet, sitting together because of our names. She and I worked well together, and she would most likely take one of the few spots.

When I finished, I took a small bow before returning to my seat next to Father, watching as the Overseer returned to the Microphone, probably ready to close the meeting, or bring something up unrelated to what had previously adjourned. I was completely surprised he had something more to bring up, a pit in my stomach forming out of worry.

"There was one more thing I must discuss with the Vault, along the lines of this Population crisis…"

'This isn't good,' I thought, the worry increased tenfold as my father grabbed my hand. When I looked over to see why he had taken my hand in his, the look on his face of regret and sadness was directed at me, giving me every reason to be worried. I placed my attention back to the Overseer, hoping that I was confused as to what I read on my father's face.

"If we continue down the path we are on, as the resent class that have become working class citizens are a mass of only 8, our next only being 4, we will be down to one young vault member in only 2 more generations. We have seen this complete downfall for almost 100 years, as the majority of this vault as it stands are over the age of being able to conceive any children. The Overseers prior to my election into office were too lenient in this endeavor, placing it on the common vault dweller to withhold their duty to procreate, and that simply cannot happen anymore." He pauses for dramatic effect, only allowing the gasps of the many who have come to the conclusion faster than others to be heard.

"It is my duty as Overseer not to let us fall into disarray, and it would be a sin to turn a blind eye to this sort of problem." I felt the pit turn into complete nausea, gripping even tighter to Fathers hand subconsciously. "For an event like this, Overseers are given a set of guidelines as to what we must do to ensure a healthy growth. In an event that we have dwindled to one hundred or less, the entirety of the population between the age of eighteen to thirty five will be matched with another as diverse as we can muster, will be paired with one another, and will have to produce a total of four children, two boys and two girls, before they reach the age of thirty five."

I sobbed loudly, not even realizing I was weeping. As I clamped a hand over my mouth to stop the noise, Father pulled me into his arms, placing a hand on the side of my face to guide it to his chest, letting my tears drain onto his lab coat.

'This can't be happening! This can't!' I thought, wanting to shut the world out. I remembered how when I would get beaten up by Butch or ridiculed by the Overseer I would ask if I could leave the vault. Father would always shoot it down, saying it wasn't safe outside, and that my mother wouldn't have wanted me to, but now more prominently I wanted to leave. I remember the first time I had read my Birth file, how she had drowned in her own blood trying to bring me into the world, how my father had been admitted into one of the special medical rooms because he had almost died of shock and had to be placed under special care for two weeks after I was born. I had caused that kind of havoc to my family, and I don't want to deal with that, I don't want to cause that to the father of my children. I can't! I won't!

"I understand that this is a lot for me to expect. I know this isn't what any of you wanted…"

'All I want is for him to drop dead with his stupidly constructed plan, but that wasn't going to happen.'

"So I have decided to make an example out of a pair of individuals among you…"

'Screw this pair! They won't make it any more appealing that it already is.'

"These two will be wed for the sake of those whose belief is that two people cannot have a child without being married first. For most of you, I will give you up until you are 21 to find a suiter and do whatever you must to be comfortable with the idea, but these two will have only a month. The rest will also have a total of four years to conceive their first child, and continue to conceive until they are at the age of thirty five, but these two will only have a total of two years before they are required to conceive…"

'I'd feel sorry for these two, but I have myself to worry about.'

'And being the example, they will be required to conceive 6 children, 3 boys and 3 girls. Because of this, I will be more relaxed on the penalties that will ensue if these individuals are a little defiant on their duties…"

'I don't care if they force me to conceive in front of the entire Vault, I won't do it.'

"As an incentive, I will be giving them whatever their heart's desire, to my abilities of course…"

'They could give me an out so I wouldn't have to do this. That might help.'

"Oh, and these two will be taken from the most recent addition to our group of working class citizens," I didn't even have time to react to the fact that he was pooling from my former classmates before he announced the first of the two, "And the lucky lady will be the oldest girl of her class, Lillian Lunah."

I pulled my head away from Father's chest, a sense of dread and panic rushing over my entire body. At one point I thought I would faint right then and there, but, unfortunately, I didn't. In a blink of an eye, or at least to me it felt like it, Father was up, pulling me to my feet and trying to drag me. It took me a second what he was doing, and so I started to fight back. That second counted, for he was able to get a good grip, realizing he would need it right away as his hold made my resistance fetial. As we stopped so that everyone could see me, I buried my face in Fathers coat again, not wanting to stare at anyone in my state.

This couldn't be happening. This really couldn't be happening. I was a good girl. I never would lash out at anyone, no matter how much I wanted to (well, other than Butch and his goons). I never did anything to deserve this! It was ridiculous.

"She is blushing already," the Overseer quipped, using my innate action as something it wasn't for his benefit.

I just wanted to shut everything out, so as I began to stop listening to what the Overseer was spewing, hoping to god it was someone like Paul. He was the only one in my age group I would be able to get along with. He wasn't completely idiotic, as he held his job well as an engineer, which also proved he would be good with taking care of a child, not running away out of fear like Freddie would. He also wasn't as sharp and quick as he might want to be, like Wally, who may be as sharp as me, but too cold for me to handle. And of course, he isn't Butch.

'Oh I hope it is Paul,' I thought, not realizing I had stopped listening. I zoned back into what the Overseer was saying just at the wrong time, for the name that was muttered was the exactly the opposite of what I had hoped for…

The name that was uttered was none other than the Serpent King:

Butch Alexander Deloria


	2. The Announcement Pt2

Chapter 2 – The Announcement Pt.2

"Butch Deloria," The Overseer announced, and my heart stopped. If Father hadn't had such a good grip on me, I would have been on the floor before I knew what hit me.

Slowly, I peeked out into the crowd, glancing at the surprised faces of random people as I found my mark. Butch looked how I felt, maybe more. His face was as pale as the driven snow, staring at nothing, mouth wide open, all while trying to hold himself up, which he seemed to be doing quite poorly as Wally and Paul had a pretty strong grip on his shoulders. "Butch Deloria," the Overseer repeated, seemingly more annoyed than the last. Butch didn't budge, only flinch at the mention of his name. I lifted my face up, staring intently at him.

'This man is going to be your husband,' I thought again, having another bout of Vertigo, as Father's grip grew stronger as he tried to support us both unexpectedly.

I began to think of all the teasing, all the uncalled attacks at my Psyche. Things that he wouldn't say to others, things that not even Amata hears from him. Even saying something snarky back doesn't deter Butch, usually ending in a chase or a beat down. Sometimes, if he is in a really bad mood and I just happen to be in the vicinity at the wrong time, "Toothpick" comes out, and when I need medical attention.

'This man is going to be your husband…'

'This man is going to have full access to you all the time…'

'This man is going to be the father of your children…'

"Sweetie," Father cooed, his hand rubbing soothing circles on my back. My breath had hitched as I came to the realizing I had been on the verge of a massive panic attack. I wanted to run and hide, drop to my knees and cry. Wait for father to get home so he can brush my hair and tell me that everything was going to be alright until I fall to sleep, and wake up from this awful nightmare…

There was a loud bang, drawing my attention to the back of the atrium. Butch had stood up from his seat, his pale face replaced with a flush of anger, hands balled up into fists, and all of his attention directed at me. He glare couldn't have been for anyone else, as he always wore a sneer for me, and no one else. He didn't hate anyone as much as he hated me.

'He won't punch me in public,' I thought, but he has never had been cautious in the past. As he neared, my breath started to hitch again, the only thing keeping me upright was Father, who had his attention, along with everyone else, centered on Butch. He went from a slow walk to a brisk strut as the Security came up behind him. I started to push back on Father as he neared, his fist coming up to strike. I watched him walk up the steps, and luckily my first thought was wrong for his attention was on the Overseer. Butch neared the Overseer, fist up and ready to knock him to the ground, when Officer Hannon and Gomez grabbed him by his arms, practically picking him up as they moved him to be on the opposite side of the mic from us. Profanities could be heard only over a whisper, directed specifically to the Overseer. A tiny sense of relief washed over me, only to be completely forgotten by the next sentences to fall from the Overseer's mouth.

"I would like to present our first pair of working class adults," the Overseer bellowed, successfully quieting the small banter. It was no surprise everyone was astonished, seeing as I was no secret how much the two of us didn't get along. More than once had I dragged our fights out into the open, fleeing from the group of bigger, stronger boys as they would chase me through the halls, yelling a multitude of swears and other nonsense that seemed to fall from their mouths.

"Ironically enough, the two most compatible people also seem to be our oldest as well, so they are more than use to being the example," That wasn't false, for Butch and I were used more than once in school activities as 'role models' of our group, which always backfired on Mr. Brotch ten to one. "I guess it is true what they say, opposites do attract…"

"Bitch," Butch mumbled just loud enough so that the Overseer could hear it, causing him to pause and glare over at him. I couldn't help but agree, as we haven't gotten along since we were young children.

"As I was saying," the Overseer added, glancing over at Butch once more before returning to his speech, "None of this could have been possible if it weren't to our valiant Doctor, James, as he has been working diligently on this for almost 16 years now."

"What?" I gasped as I pulled away from Father, as though he had burned me. I stared at him, disbelief racking through me like the plague. 16 years, all but a fragment of my life he has known, and never once brought it up. He reached for me, eyes full of regret and sorrow, but I backed away, my heel dangling off the edge of the stage. I quickly grabbed the guiderail, balancing myself as I watched my father back off, ultimately returning to his seat. That's when the Overseer grabbed my other arm, pulling me away from the edge and setting me in the same spot that I was perched prior to my outburst. As his back was turned, the Overseer glared daggers at me, before straitening himself and returning to the microphone.

"Now if there are no more interruptions," the Overseer quipped, not giving anyone the time to comment before he continued, but an unusually angered voice called out from the crowd anyhow;

"There was no consent for this," Butch's mother, Ellen, firmly stated as she stood from her seat close to the front of the Atrium, her icy blue eyes glared at the Overseer, quickly darting over to her son before continuing, "Lilly is only 17, and Butch is still in my care for another month, as is true for every adult. I have never consented to this, and as a minor, Lilly, or her father, can't give consent to Butch for marriage or any other thing that goes along with the procreation of children until they have both been legally 18 for a month, and don't try and say that isn't the rule, because I went through this when I was caring Butch. I know the statute of limitations, and unless both of us consent, or the ruling from more than two thirds of the population vote otherwise, there is no way this is legal."

It was no surprise that Ellen felt so strongly about this, since Butch's father, Alex, was killed in a freak accident working with Stanley on the reactor, and she had to sit in court while in labor with Butch, trying to make sure no one could take him away, as her father wanted to do. Not to mention the fact that it was her only son, and no matter what people say, she always wants what's best for him, even if that means doing unpleasant things to make sure he is taken care of.

"Ms. Deloria!" the Overseer snapped back, his face as red as a ripe tomato, "My authority should not be questioned." Ellen was about to talk back, but she glanced over to two security guards walking over, she immediately sat back down without even a whisper.

The Overseer sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose before continuing, "But you do make a good point. As citizens of this vault, you have given everything to the vault as a contributing citizen weather that be a contributing citizen of a mundane task or as an example of perfect breeding! But to enlighten you, James already volunteered his daughter when he took the task of genetic pairing," My entire body tensed as I peered from Father's chest. "And don't think this was an impulse decision, for we've been working around the clock since the G.O.A.T. exam…" Father peered down at me, his eyes full of remorse and sorrow, his grip tightening around me. I could feel the anger radiate off of me as I yanked myself from him, finger pointed right at his chest.

" _You knew_! You _knew_ for Sixteen years, and not once did you even TRY to tell me," I almost screamed, but before I could continue, I saw a security out of the corner of my eye. I turned and booked it out of there, making sure to close the both doors behind me before continue forward. I kept running until I had got some distance from the security staff, not wanting confrontation from them. As I rounded the corner from the majority of the housing, home in sight before falling on my knees, my head in my hands.

Everything started to come crashing down on me, and all of my natural fear of crying outside of my own home dissipated, the tears rolling of my cheeks like water on a duck. I felt so alone, now that Father has been keeping secrets from me, the exact thing he taught was wrong. I had told him everything, and I wasn't good at keeping secrets from him for long, yet he keeps the biggest secret imaginable, and it doesn't even affect him! Now, I am going to be a show horse, breed for one purpose, and ultimately only having one service; baring children for Butch Deloria. Sure, they will plan a giant wedding, everyone in the whole godforsaken Vault, with a giant cake, and giant bouquets; the whole shebang. Then, they will lock me in with that animal, Butch… and he will have his way with me… And then I'll get pregnant… And…

I felt warm hands grasp sharply on my forearms, pulling them away from my face before setting them firmly behind my back, the person started to drag me in the opposite direction. At first I thought it to be the work of a security officer, but when they pushed me up against the wall, and they towered over me with the smell of cheap cigarettes mixed with a faint smell of expensive whiskey (Which have been known to disappear from time to time in the store), I knew exactly who it was.

"You knew didn't ch'a," Butch's voice spat next to my ear, his bodyweight crushing me as it always does when he thinks I am struggling, which I was definitely doing to no avail.

"No," I struggled, between the wall and his pushing, it was hard to breath. When he wouldn't budge, I added, "I was as surprised as you…"

"Bitch," He cursed as he pressed harder, cold metal slightly digging into me as it frayed ever so slightly in places. "There's no way ya didn't know." His spicy breath mixed with the peach smelling pomade he always cakes in his hair was so intense that my eyes began to water. Unfortunately, Butch took the second bout of tears as crying.

"Is somebody cwying?" Butch questioned, letting up a little bit on the leaning, before forcefully crushing me again, causing an audible grown out of me. "Well suck it up nosebleed." This time I did begin to cry, the pain wasn't unbearably uncomfortable, but the fact that I had been crying before didn't help my situation.

"I told you I was as clueless as you!" I retort, only for him to slam me back into the wall. This time I hit my cheek hard on the wall, no doubt bruising something. Before I knew it, he spins me around so I'm facing him: so I can see how angry he is. He presses his arm to my windpipe, crushing it slightly. I claw frantically at his leather clad arm, but then he pulls out his "Toothpick", and I get the picture. He is always sensitive about his leather jacket, almost stabbing Freddie when he shoved Butch into a trashcan. Luckily for Freddie only two splashes got onto the jacket, or he'd be dead.

"Ya know, I remember your daddy scolding you for lying way back when," He says, getting quiet, which is never a good sign.

"I'm not," I gasp out, stupidly, mind you, for Butch's face turns a shade of red I've never seen before. I gasp for air, but he presses harder, giving me no room to breathe in.

"We are gonna be newlyweds, and I feel nothing for you," He spat every word, and I couldn't help but to flinch at every word. A pit formed in my stomach, I could almost see where he was going. Tears started to stream down my face, but I wouldn't let him see me sob. "I hate your guts, you know that. You make me sick…" I tried to breathe in again, but nothing came through, so the sobs came on anyway, along with the struggling to get free. "I'll never love you, you aren't lovable…" I thought I could hear footfalls, but with the ringing in my ears from the lack of oxygen, I couldn't tell if it was a figment of my Imagination. "Your daddy probably hates ya' too, what with you rippin' his wife apart too…" The footfalls were harder to tell from my heartbeat, so I could only guess that they were imagined, "The only difference is he loved her, and that will never be us…"

Out of the corner of my blurred vision, I could see two figures come up behind Butch. I couldn't make out the two figures, but it didn't matter, because they ripped Butch off of me. As soon as the pressure was off, I gasped in as much air as I could, only being able to get in small breaths at a time. I looked up at my saviors, who happen to be security officers as well.

"Well Butch, I didn't think you had it in you," Herman stated, his arm twisting Butch's arm back painfully. He was always nice to me, and he had a vendetta against Butch for being a bad influence on his son.

"Don't you know it's wrong to beat your future wife? Or has those cigarettes and fetal alcohol syndrome made it so your brain doesn't function correctly," Hannon added, his vindictiveness deriving from similar experiences.

"Get off of me," Butch yelled. The corners of my vision began to blur again, my breath quickened without my control, emanating a bad anxiety attack. "I'll make you wish you were never born, nosebleed," Butch shouted, triggering me to jump. "You will never see it coming," He continued, "And you won't be able to fight me off. I'll put a kid in ya', and in nine months, that baby will rip you apart." I started hyperventilating, and I felt so tired. Everyone's voices began to fade, the last thing I heard was the heavy footfalls of Butch's combat boots as he walked, most likely, into his apartment. The world began to spin before everything went dark, and I couldn't fight the exhaustion.


	3. Proposal of Some Sorts

Chapter 3 – The Proposal of Some Sorts

I stirred from my dreamless sleep with a start, immediately regretting it as the immense pain shot through my lungs and throat. A groan, that didn't sound at all like my own, escaped my lips. A hand was placed on my shoulder, causing yet another start out of me, which sent another shot of pain to reverberate through my lungs.

"It's alright," A voice I knew too well spoke. Amata came into view, a small smile graced her lips. "Your father asked me to get you once you awoke. He wants you to go to the clinic."

"I'll be fine," I wheezed out, the discomfort obvious.

"Oh, really," Amata scoffed, a mirror hanging from her hand. She placed it in view of me, and the image was a shock, to say the very least.

My usually soft, fair features had been completely erased, replaced with bruised, broken skin, and swelling. I was never a pretty girl, like Amata or Susie, nor had I found myself completely unappealing. I appreciated my looks, as they show my heritage, my lower cheekbones, smaller nose, wide eyes, and stronger jaw was identical to my mother's. The pale complexion, bushier brows, a larger frame with the feminine curves, and thick, wavy hair came from Father's side, though, my mother sported the curves as well, unlike her own mother. The golden red hair and bright, forest green eyes were a mystery, as Father would always say it came from the milk man. Now, my features had been hidden behind swelling around my cheeks and neck. My eyes were hollow and dark from the lack of oxygen. My face was littered with bruises that disappeared down my blouse, which was soiled from the sweat and drool of a long night of struggling for air. The only thing that hadn't changed was my hair, consisting of two messy braids that reached all the way down to the back of my knees.

"I guess I look as bad as I feel," I crocked, the strain incredibly painful.

"Oh," Amata growled, holding the handle of the mirror so tightly her knuckles turned white, "I can't believe him! Attacking you for no reason like that. He's gone too far this time."

"Amata, it's fine," I coughed a little, some blood coming up from my raw throat, "I handled him." Amata glared at me, an unbelieving sneer on her lips.

"What exactly did he want? He may be low, but this was a little too rough, even for him."

"Amata, I don't want to talk about it," I choked a little, a lot more blood coming up in my hand as it dripped from my lips like a vampire after his meal. Amata took notice, quickly at my side as she hoisted me up, holding me steady as an excruciating headache pounded in my skull. Another uncontrollable groan escaped my lips, making me feel lucky to have a very stubborn friend.

"Come on," Amata chuckled, almost gloating, "Let's get you to the Clinic."

Slowly, more my fault than Amata's, made our way to the clinic. It wasn't a long trek from my apartment to the clinic, but it was the few shops in between that worried me. We would pass by the grocery store, the pet and feed shop, and the clothing and cloth shop. The last one at the end of the "Women's corner" (as everyone call it due to the nature of each shop) was the barber and hair dresser's shop. As we turned the corner leading out of the residential area into the Women's corner, I could make out the leather jacket, a dim but visible cigarette hanging between his fingers as smoke poured from his mouth like a chimney. I halted mid-stride, causing Amata to jerk back as she stared at me, following my train of sight before locking eyes with Butch as he took his smoke break. He stared back at us, his expression was too hard to see from where we stood, but his body language was more rigid than normal.

"Come on," Amata pulled as she half walked, half dragged me towards the lion's den. I quickly averted my eyes, staring at the ground as we walked. I began counting footsteps, anything to keep from enacting a glance in his direction. As I began to believe that we should have turned the corner towards the clinic and education hall, my eyes betrayed me. I had only hoped to take a quick glance and then revert my eyes, but Butch's expression caught me off guard. What would normally be an angry sneer, was replaced by a remorseful glare in my direction, as though he was beating down on himself for his actions. It was unsettling, to say the least, but it didn't strike pity in me.

'Good,' I thought as I look towards the ground, my fear replaced with a prideful anger. 'This is what he deserves,' but the new shiner on his eye, mixed with the three cuts on his cheek created a pit in my stomach. I hadn't tried to fight back too hard, and the only thing close to fighting was the way I clawed at his jacket. The first thing I thought of was Jonas or Father getting back at him for this, but neither of them would have stopped at one hit, and it clearly wasn't from more than one punch. Also, the gashes weren't from a normal knife, nor a switch blade. It looked like a police baton hit him 3 times, breaking into the skin with uneven cuts. The security had obviously done that to him, seeing as the general public weren't allowed to have any old weapon they came across. It sparked something in me, almost like a mother protecting her young. I stopped in the middle of the path, Amata jerking once again. I crane my head around, Butch's remorse turning to sadness as he stared back. It was only for a brief second, but I felt a rush of acceptance, not forgiveness or regret, before returning towards the clinic, walking on my own as the light footfalls of Amata trailed behind, leaving Butch to his thoughts about the entire endeavor…

~*~ 6 Days Later ~*~

The rest of the week went off without a hitch, though, the extra boost of newly prescribed anti-anxiety had something to do with it. For my "Incident," as the Overseer was calling it, had was swept under the rug with the allowance to use more than my fair share of Stimpaks and other medical tools in exchange for secrecy. It wasn't a complete secret, but to the few that knew the truth would only invoke the wrath of the Overseer if they told anyone about it. Shortly after that, I had been moved into one of the medical wings after the four future midwives were picked, consisting of Christine Kendall, Janice Wilkins, Mr. Brotch's daughter, Laiza Brotch, and Katrine Armstrong; the youngest of the Armstrong sisters. The four were the best choice, as they all worked hard, were very observant, and overall, easy to work with. It was also added by the Overseer that I was to train one of the four to become the primary position once I was on my own maternity leave, which, to the Overseer, would be right after the wedding.

"He wishes," I remarked in my brand new office (well, for me at least), completely amiss to the fact that I had said that out loud.

"Who wishes?" Christine inquired as she read through a medical textbook, along with the other girls, as they learn the basics of just what they had gotten themselves into.

"Oh, nothing. Just a snide comment," I say, hoping she didn't catch on to the worry in my voice.

She didn't fight for the answer, which was quite a change from my normal entourage. She normally would dig for the answer, but since she took the job, she was much more cautious. She is very perceptive, just like when we were young, having worked with her on almost every project under the sun during our time in school, due to the fact that alphabetically (which seemed to be the vault's only way to figure out anything, by assigning based solely on our names). It never bothered me, as I was very few things, but if you asked what my best quality is, I would hands down say perceptive. It was one of the reasons I chose her as an associate, and why I was debating on making her my direct partner, and, dare I say it, the woman to deliver my future children. It was a scary concept, to say the very least, but after the marriage, I have two years to get on board, and maybe by then, Butch and I might have patched things up. Maybe we will fall for each other like in those cheesy adult romance books Amata always makes me read, where the arranged marriage brought two circumstantial enemies together, and they end up happy, and have lots and lots of children…

"Yeah right," I say aloud, again, lucky Christine let that remark slip as well.

All of a sudden, the door slid open, the room turning from a quiet work space, to a loud jumble of gasps and incoherent mumbling of curses directed towards the man that stood in the otherwise vacant frame.

"Kid," Jonas stated as he walked into the better lit room, his jumpsuit and lab coat surprisingly in check as his hair was swept back. "We gotta go. Our meeting with the Overseer is in 15 minutes."

"Oh, right." The meeting! I had completely let it slip. The day after my incident, she had tried to fill me in the best she could, but once Butch and I had left, the Overseer didn't speak of our circumstance.

"It was quite strange. I'm so sorry Lilly," Amata had said almost bitterly, the only conclusion being that she was mad about the situation. A lot of people were, which, to be honest, seemed right. A lot of people believed in love, and that the necessity of children came later. There were even events just for people about the same age to meet. Father, though now it seems quite useless, trying to guilt me into going once, as a way to pacify him from using the lack of grandchildren in the future. Butch, and his gang had attended, of course, completely making a mockery of me. After that point, I had never returned, not that I needed to anyway.

As we rounded the corner right before the Overseer's office, Jonas stopped me, his expression vastly different from his normal upbeat attitude, as he sported a stern expression. "I need to speak to you before we go in," Jonas spoke.

"About what?" I said, a little worn down than normal, as it most likely will be until my death.

"It's about your father." I frowned.

"That he betrayed me? Or maybe the fact that he had been in cahoots with the Overseer _since I was born_ ," I enunciated, a hush silencing me before Jonas looked around for any eavesdroppers.

"Don't put too much blame on him," He said in a hushed voice.

"Why not," I mimicked mockingly.

"Because he was under surveillance, and has been watched as long as he has been working on it," He said impatiently. "They threatened to take you away…"

I felt like I couldn't breathe all of a sudden. 'Taken away?' I thought, understanding now completely. It all made sense, and put a huge strain on my psych.

Jonas took the silence as a clear cut since of realization, as he continued, "Great, now that you know, let's go confront this as a family."

It took some might to walk into the office, half to get it over with, and half from the anti-anxiety. To Jonas' surprise (Not really to me) Butch was nowhere in sight, instead, just his mother, with a small piece of paper clutched tightly in his hands.

"Ah, you decide to grace us with your attendance Ms. Lunah. At least one of you showed up," The Overseer grunted bitterly, shooting a glare towards Ellen. Jonas sat next to Father, leaving the only spot next to Ellen. It seemed that the Overseer knew that Butch wouldn't be here, as there were only 4 chairs, and Jonas was expected by request of me. I gently sat in the chair, staring at anything that isn't another being.

"Ah, well, since it is time for the meeting to be adjourned, I guess we will start." The Overseer boomed as he sat down in his comfy chair. "Now, down to business. I know you didn't get the full ledger of what Butch and you have the pleasure of becoming…"

'He acts like this is going to be wonderful,' I scoff in my head, working very hard not to roll my eyes.

"The two of you have been chosen as the most compatible people with the most diversity in you lineage…"

'Also a lie,' I thought blocking out his ramblings on how our blood was the "perfect" match. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out it was all a clever ruse. The two of us aren't compatible in the means that he is saying. It is because we are the poorest children in the Vault. On Butch's side, Ellen works one of the more stressful jobs, as she is a checker for the grocery store. As such, she isn't popular with others, and so, she constantly gets complaints, and loses her hard earned money because of it. As for my father, he is known for not taking direct orders from the Overseer. As a way to control the steady use of medical supplies, it was enacted when Alphonse was chosen for Overseer, that everyone, no matter the circumstance, is only aloud three Stimpaks a month, and after three months of use, they are required to be admitted to the health clinic for addiction, and they lose a week of pay, just because of addiction. The fact that that was broken for me, as I needed 9 Stimpaks AND Med-X just to sweep the endeavor under the rug was scandalous in and of itself. It is required that we register every use of healing chems, but Father was notorious of not, so he never gets paid his rightful wage.

Furthermore, we only had one parent while we grew up, and as a result (Though I wish not to admit it), Both Butch and I have been set back because of the social status of poverty, which just staked his ducks in a row.

"And as such, for your generous offer to be the Protégé of this new endeavor, I will grant you your desires."

Exactly. 'Use the fact that we don't have anything against us.'

"So, please make sure that it is within reason. I may have many things to offer, but I can't make miracles."

"Bastard," I say under my breath, thankful that no one heard that.

"What was that?" The Overseer questioned.

"Nothing." My irritation coming out when I snapped back at his accusatory jab. I didn't realize how tired I really was until the meeting, realizing that because of the added medicine, I really hasn't done anything other than work, sleep, eat, repeat.

"Very well," The Overseer rolled his eyes, not liking the tone, "All I need you from you three to do is sign this, and we'll move on to discussing the matter of trade."

Dad went to pick up the pen handed to him to sign it, but I quickly nocked it out of his hand, getting a mixed signal from him as he looked at me with a bewilderment.

"We aren't signing anything until a deal is made!" I snapped once more, a ferocity I thought lay dormant coming out like a phoenix out of the ashes. I grab the paper, gaining a bewilderment from all four parties. I quickly scanned the document, coming to the line that said: "All terms will be final at the signing of this document."

"Here," I point, showing the paper to everyone, "He was just going to trick us into signing." Father, Ellen, and Jonas were all furious, as I happily tortured the Overseer with the uncomfortable feeling of getting caught red handed.

"Fine," He said through his teeth, quiet enough not to cause an uproar, "What is it that you want?"

"A few things,"

"Be mindful, you won't get to own the Vault."

"How do you seriously think this wedding is going to go?" I ask. "Do you think Butch is going to be on good behavior? He won't like this one bit. Knowing him, he'll come into the reception drunk, if you're lucky, yelling at everyone and not in the slightest bit happy. He is going to make this the most miserable thing for you, you know." I lean in real close for dramatic effect, "You realize your only salvation will be me. I got good at turning him on his head, quiet and blushing. If you don't be careful, I might join him, and then, what future would you have at EVER making this plan of yours work…"

I leaned back, catching Ellen's worried expression for a brief second as she looked down at the paper, a specific line of writing catching my interest for a brief second, before returning to the horrified (and satisfactory) grimace of the Overseer.

"Ahh," Alphonse sighed, "very well, go ahead and list them off," he said, grabbing a pencil slowly so I could see what he was writing on.

"Okay," I started, sorting everything that I had in my head, "I would like you to construct a new living space, the size of three regular homes," The Overseer broke the pencil, looking up at me to see I was completely serious.

"You must be joking," He stated.

"Just write it down." I grumble. He grabs a new pencil and we continue, "A large, Jacuzzi tub, and don't try and deny it. I know you own one." He glares at the paper, not even daring to question it anymore, "A record player, with all of Elvis Presley records as well as ones I've never seen before, a large Kitchen (Because whenever I have to share, it's a nightmare) with double sinks and lots of cabinets and storage space, big TVs with all of the channels that we don't have to pay for, Multiple bathrooms, and… two beds…"

"Absolutely not," The Overseer retorts, "How do you expect to conceive children if you don't share the bed." He glares back at me, "Do I need you send you back to health." A slight burn blossoms at my cheeks, as I realize the company I share in the small office. "Is there anything else?" The Overseer asks.

"Yes, sir, I'd like to ask…" Ellen pipes up, only to be shot down by Alphonse.

"I am sorry Ellen, but since Butch refuses to attend, he will lose out on any agreements for his absence."

Ellen is on the verge of tears, as she dips down to hide her tears with her hair. As she loses herself, I glance at the paper before gently pulling it from her to get a better look. The paper was mostly in Butch's handwriting, and the list was quite short, only to amounting to a few thinks. The first two weren't going to be put into consideration, the first being to lengthen the time to have the first, and the second being the separation between each child. I didn't waste time with the rules, because even if we did the worst thing imaginable at the wedding, the Overseer's word is law, and no one, not even we could change what he already decided. No, it was the next two that caused a horrible feeling to ripple through my core, sending shivers down my spine. The writing was definitely not Butch's, as the handwriting was the same as the birthday cards from him in past years, in which Ellen had been the one to write them.

The third one had been to ask Butch to get a reasonable, constant wage, which, as a barber (not a hairdresser), was also in the public eye, and therefore, constantly being changed depending on how people responded, and Butch had made many enemies among the entire Vault. I wasn't the only one he would bully, I was just his favorite.

That left the fourth and final one, which, made me feel so bad for Ellen. It just said: "stop the security force from hurting my son." I wasn't supposed to know, but a couple of years ago, Ellen had to be put on an anti-depressant, because almost every night since Butch was barely 15, he would get brought home either severely beaten, drunk off his a**, or come home completely fine, but have their entire home obliterated because of a random search that wasn't even necessary. Ellen would always go straight for the bottle, and Butch and her would have Suicidal scares up until she got her treatment, but the treatments can only go so far.

I could just imagine him stumbling beaten or drunk every night, bringing havoc home with him.

'There is no other way,' I think, before glaring up at the Overseer.

"No," I grumble, "I have two more requests." Ellen looks over at me catching my eye as she stares back with her tear-filled eyes, sealing the deal right there on the spot, "I want both Butch and I to get a steady wage, with the only change is to go up, not down." I place my hand on Ellen's knee, feeling for her hand before loosening her grip on her leg as I hold it firmly, "Before I continue though, I would like to know that status of Butch's record."

The Overseer stiffens, before he swivels around to his terminal. As he searches for the file, I center my attention to the weeping Ellen, who I pull into a gentle hug, the first in a very long time.

"Ah," The Overseer chirps, drawing our attention to him. "It seems that he is very close to being incarcerated for his crimes," He huffs, quietly saying, "That might conflict with this endeavor."

"May I ask why?" Father questions, the first thing he has said since I got here, Jonas still not saying a word.

"Because," I snap with my free hand at the Overseer to start writing, enjoying every moment of just plain ordering him around, "I would like his slate wiped clean, and to never be tarnished again." An awkward silence befalling the room. I look around the room at all the eyes, save for Ellen, who was still hugging me. "What...? I wish for him to not bring home more trouble, and, dare I say, if we are to have… children together… than I wish for them to have both a grandfather and grandmother," I gently pull out of the embrace to look at Ellen, "If I do this, I want you to stop drinking, okay?"

More tears welled in her eyes as she chocked out, "Yes. Yes I will stop drinking."

"Then it's settled, I have no other requests. Now we're ready to sign the paper…"

BUTCH'S POV

"Don't take forever, Butch," Paul called behind me as I walked out of the Diner, my combat boots echoing over the crowd. He called out again, but just as the door closed behind me, obscuring his voice.

I made my way over to the table with an ashtray the rust bucket, Andy put out pass-aggressively placed after Wally burned a welt into one of the tables. Andy wouldn't serve them for a week, just cus he wanted to throw a fucking tizzy fit over something to goddamn stupid. I felt my temper boil, the cigarette being lit more important before I broke something. It was all because of that god damn nosebleed, what with her not being able to take a bit of horseplay without fucking fainting and getting me in so much god damn trouble. As the smoke filtered through the newly lit cigarette, I remembered the haunting face she gave right before passing out, her fear caused a wet dread to fill my stomach at the sight of her. I heard she had slept fine the last week from Christine, something I envy, after seeing her corpse-like body the next day.

"Lucky her" I mumble through the filter of the cig, almost dropping it at the ring of my Pipboy. Pullin' my right hand up my mother's number shows up on-screen.

'Probably wantin' to talk about the meetin,' I roll my eyes, pressing the green button on the screen with bold letters spelling 'answer' on it.

"Hi Butchie," Ma answers, already making me mad.

"Hey, How many time do I gotta tell ya, don't call me that in public," I grunt, looking around before staring back at the screen with the projection of her and the background. To the side, I can faintly see the outline of a dress 3 sizes too big for the wearer, as well as those nasty, un-kept, red braids that cascaded as long as the dress. Lilly waited at the corner, every once in a while glancing back at Ma.

"Are you even listening?" Ma comments, just before looking around at what I was staring at. She began to grin, "You already starting to like her?"

"No," I growl, "I saw a fat blob and that it was a mutant, but no, just Nosebleed, slinking around…"

" _Butch_!" Ma screamed, her expression changed to bad, I don't want to hear it. After what she has done for you."

"What, make it so I don't have to marry her? If that's true, than I guess I have to give her credit…"

"Why are you always such a monster," just then, I stared closely at Ma, who had dark bags under her eyes, and streaks. She had been crying, as she was right now. "How about she just saved you from being incarcerated," she said with fervent anger, something she reserves for more serious situations, or when I wouldn't take her seriously. "I have been taking medicine because of you. Every night I would wonder if I still had a son! Every night I would wonder if you had been put in prison, or worse, that you were dead!" Ma held back tears, but she wouldn't be able to hold it back forever. "Never mind."

"Whatever, She probably had ulterior motives…" But before I could finish, she hung up, the last thing I saw, was Nosebleed touching my mother.

"Ow," I yell, the burnt end of my Cig fell straight down my shirt, burning my chest. I shake it off before walking back into the Diner, Thinking about why she would want me out of the slammer.

"No doubt she is scheming," Again, as for the past of the week, and many weeks to come, Nosebleed is still the only thing on my mind…


	4. The Arrangement

Chapter 4 – The Arrangement

LILLY

I sat up from my restless sleep, in a complete disarray. I was late, late to the meeting Butch and I had, the meeting that was going to basically plan my whole life ahead, and this point I had already contemplated whether I should go back to sleep or actually go to the meeting. However, I never wanted to be like Butch, I wanted to carry on being a good girl, despite my current situation and the mixture of feelings I had towards Alphonse. I didn't know whether Butch was going to even show up to the meeting, seeing that he absolutely refused to be in the same room as me and no one could tell him otherwise.

A week had passed since we had the first meeting with Alphonse, to which Butch had failed to attend, and I had demanded that our wedding would be postponed, that got a lot off my chest. Unfortunately for me, there was still _this_ pathetic meeting we had to attend as a _couple,_ we had to sit down to discuss the whole wedding endeavor. As soon as I was dressed and ready, I had left the apartment in a complete mess, Amata had offered to walk me to the Overseer's office, since she had told me she had 'nothing better to do'. Of course she didn't, she wasn't forced to marry someone.

"I still cannot forgive my father. I cannot believe he was planning all of this behind _my_ back for _sixteen_ years." I carried on ranting as we turned the corner. Though my peripheral vision I could see Amata roll her eyes and give off a exasperated sigh.

"You cannot keep speaking ill of your father, you aren't the only one being forced to marry someone, you know." Amata informed me. We stopped dead in our tracks as I turned to glare irritably at her.

"Yeah, sure. Who're you marrying again? I forgot." I snapped. Amata threw her arms on the sides of her hips out of defeat, or I hoped it was out of defeat and not frustration.

"Lilly, don't be a pain. My father had told me a few days back that I have to marry Wally, since our genes are different, or something like that." Amata retorted. At that point, I felt a little sympathetic for her. Yes, I had to marry Butch, but Wally was far worse than anyone in this vault, he was the type of guy to get _his_ way and only _his_ way, he didn't have boundaries for his actions and it scared me.

"I'm sorry, seriously. I'm so sorry." I apologized sincerely, putting my hand on her shoulder for reassurance. "I will be there for you when you need me." I saw how perplexed Amata suddenly looked as the words flew out of my mouth.

"Umm. Okay? You seem more upset than I am. Why is that?" Amata inquired. Before I could even answer, our heads snapped toward the two voices coming from the other direction. It was Butch and his mother, Ellen. He was grumbling about the meeting while Ellen had her hands wrapped around his arm, walking him to the office.

"Oh, God. Can we go faster?" I begged. Amata smirked as she turned to look at Butch and his mother.

"No. You should go with your husband and future mother-in-law."

I scoffed loudly. "Seriously? You're that ignorant? I can't believe you." I glared at her in disgust before storming away. A friend she was, it hurt that my current situation was laughable, since not long ago she was hauling my ass to the clinic because it worried her that Butch had beat me up too badly.

However, the voices weren't too far behind me as Ellen and Butch had caught up with me a few seconds after I got to the Alphonse's office. Ellen was still holding Butch next to her as he muttered under his breath, while Alphonse had come out of his office to greet us. I had completely avoided all contact with Butch as I stood beside Ellen, Alphonse was quick to send comment on Butch's tardiness, only making Ellen's face look more distressed and despondent. Butch, however, didn't even bother to look at the Overseer or me.

As soon as Ellen left, with a few words of wisdom to Butch, we headed inside the office, where Butch and I took our seats and managed to move our chairs and stay clear of one another's way. Alphonse, with a very displeased look on his face, took a set in front of us behind his desk. He pulled out some papers from his desk drawer and placed them on the table, pen in hand, prepared to write whatever he was going to write. I quickly glanced at Butch, who was already glaring at me, making me uncomfortable already.

"As you both know, you're both here today to discuss the plans for _your_ future." Alphonse began, but was rudely cut off by Butch's loud, and definitely intentional, yawn. "And I expected _no_ disruptions during my speech, Mr DeLoria."

"I don't understand why the hell I have to be here, seriously. I don't give a crap about this shit." Butch spat in reply. He leaned back on his chair as he stretched his legs out, resting his crossed arms on his chest.

"Because Mr DeLoria, this is the future you will _share_ with Miss Lunah, so you had to attend this meeting whether you like it or not. Now, if there is no more distractions, I would like to continue. This meeting is held because we need to plan your wedding, it is an event in life a couple has to look forward to, and I want to make sure all of this vault's couples have a perfect wedding they will never forget."

Oh, I won't forget this. How could I? I mean I'm marrying my Prince fucking Charming, who bullied me constantly and stuffed me into a freaking locker, oh and let's not forget his best friend, who's probably gonna follow Butch around as if he was growing on his ass.

"Now, I would first off like to ask who's going to be your Best Man, and Maid of Honor. Mr DeLoria, you may speak now." Alphonse inquired as he glared at Butch, preparing to write Butch's words on paper.

"Well, I can't speak for nosebleed. But obviously Paul is gonna be my Best Man." Butch answered Alphonse's question at ease. Clearly Alphonse and I were both shocked when he said Paul and not Wally, as Alphonse took a few moments to process the information he was just told.

"I see, interesting. And Miss Lunah, I assume Amata will be your Maid of Honor." He forcefully suggested. However, I didn't hesitate to shut him down with his dumb suggestion, as if I needed another girl whose cattiness had taken over her dumb little life.

"Actually, no. I had Christine in mind, she's very calm and assertive, and she's perfect in my mind. I mean, it's my wedding after all." I sneered. I saw Alphonse's facial expression change into a more displeased one, and through my peripheral vision, I saw Butch glare at me.

"Umm. Alright, then. Definitely not what I expected from both of you, but, I shall carry on. Now, your clothes – Lilly you will be going to get dresses fitted, as so will you Butch."

"Actually, I wanted to make my own dress." I piped up. I heard Butch immediately begin to snicker as the words flew out of my mouth.

"I don't wanna marry Raggedy Ann, you know? I bet you'll just walk out with some cheap rags on." Butch sneered. Alphonse glared at Butch as I kept my eyes on the ground, clearly quite embarrassed at Butch's remark.

"Now, DeLoria, settle down and do not be rude! Now, since we go the clothes out of the way. We shall discuss the rings. Mr DeLoria, your mother has informed me that you do have your ring present, don't you?" Alphonse asked Butch. I glance at him quickly as he reluctantly pulled a small box out of the pocket of his leather jacket. He tossed the box over to Alphonse before crossing his arms again.

Alphonse opened the small box, only to reveal a fascinating ring: it was an average silver ring with a mesmerizing blue stone embedded on it. I wasn't the only one whose breath was taken away at the first glance of the ring, it was Alphonse too. "Oh, my, my, my. That is quite the ring, Mr DeLoria."

"It was my ma's engagement ring. Wish I could've gave it to some gal I actually love." Butch muttered. Alphonse sighed as he put the box down, clearly irritated by Butch's sneering remarks.

"Now, Mr DeLoria. I'm sure you'll start to feel something for Miss Lunah. Now, we should get the ring –"

"Actually, I have my own ring." I rudely interrupted, pulling out the ring I had stuffed in my pocket. It wasn't anymore mesmerizing than the one Butch had, but it was certainly more dear to me as it was my own mother's engagement ring. It was silver and had various of patterns embedded on the ring itself, with a white crystal on it.

"Well, umm. Alright, Miss Lunah, if that's what you want." Alphonse sighed in defeat. "Now, I hope that the both of you know how… well, babies are made."

"I doubt Lilly over there does. I mean she's never even been with a guy before." Butch laughed. I glared at him, shocked that he'd even say something like that. But I wasn't going to deny anything he said.

"Have you, Mr DeLoria?" Alphonse questioned him.

"Practiced with Susie a few times, she alright I guess." Butch sneered. Alphonse glared at him, almost disgusted by his sexual activity with one of the Mack siblings. I mean, I'm surprised him and Wally hadn't had a whole fight because of Susie and Butch's activities in their spare time.

"And you, Miss Lunah?"

"I'm saving myself for marriage." I proudly said, smiling to myself. I sat up and glanced at Butch and Alphonse, both of them shared the same riddled facial expression as I smiled. Butch soon began snickering to himself as Alphonse had praised me for containing myself.

"Now, since I've been such a good guy today. May I have my Toothpick back?" Butch asked, almost politely. But there was still no please, just his way of saying 'I attended this stupid meeting, now I want something in return'.

"Oh, no. We don't want you to stab your fiancé, now do we?" Alphonse sighed. Butch immediately stood up in a haste, making his poor chair hit the ground.

"That's bullshit!" He yelled before storming out of the room. As if this meeting was actually gonna go well, what else could I expect? I glanced around the room as Alphonse sighed, not really surprised by Butch's unnecessary actions.

I left the Overseer's office after he attempted to converse in small talk, I didn't see Butch after his little outburst, and I was quite glad. Unfortunately for me, Amata was quick to hear about my choosing of my Maid of Honor and she seemed really pissed off. However, she chose Susie to be her Maid of Honor, but it wasn't alright for me to point that out. I had continued to ignore Amata after that, as she continued to pretend to be the victim of something really severe or some shit. One hell of a friend she was.

AUTHOR

Lilly, still in some shock after Amata's outburst due to her not being Lilly's Maid of Honor, had went back to studying and preparing for her future job in gynecology. Christine had offered to accompany her, to make things more interesting for the both of them. Lilly had reluctantly agreed, in hopes that Christine would actually study with her and not gossip for the next few hours, which even Christine was quite a prone to. Lilly had to admit, everyone in the vault were quite the gossipers – despite their age, gender, career, IQ level or even their social status.

However, there was one thing that Lilly had to get off her chest right there. And Christine was practically her only friend at that point in time, even though they hadn't always gotten along, Christine had become quite close to her.

Christine scribbled a few notes down on her notepad as she stared down at the huge textbook, filled with various information the girls had to know. However, Lilly shuffled uncomfortably as she began her sentence. "Amata was so pissed today when I told her you're gonna be my Maid of Honor, and I don't think we're friends anymore."

That got Christine's full attention as she glared at Lilly. "I'm your Maid of Honor?" She inquired, with a smile creeping up on her face. Lilly nodded before Christine almost tackled her, the two girls hugged for a few moments before Christine moved back to her previous place. "Why didn't you pick Amata? You've been friends since like… forever."

"We had a little disagreement before the meeting, and she began acting all arrogant and cocky. Besides, I see the way she looks at Butch, I'd have to be really dumb not to notice that." Lilly pointed out. Amata had been acting quite different around Butch for a while now, as if she had the biggest crush on the guy. Susie, well she had a crush on him, that wasn't a secret – she was basically Butch's sex toy,

"I see. Amata is a little strange, I mean who falls in love with their childhood bully?" Christine giggled. Although Lilly felt different, she felt as if there could've been something between her and Butch. However, she shut those thoughts out quickly as she remembered the words that hit her like knives.

"Call me crazy, but I think I'm going to make my own dress."

"Really? I'll help! I've always wanted to make my own wedding dress, but my mom said that when my wedding day came, I'd have to wear her dress." Christine offered, with a frown planted on her young face.

"Thank you, so much." Lilly smiled. "But for now, I think we should study a bit more."

"Wow. Even before your wedding you're a buzzkill." Christine bemoaned. Lilly frowned before looking back at her notes, memorizing every single word that was written down on the notepad.

This wedding was going to be the end of her, and Lilly knew it.


	5. Wedding Bells

Chapter 5 – Wedding Bells

LILLY

"Lilly, wake up dammit!" The voice began getting more clearer by the second as my dreams began fading and I was brought back to reality. I refused to open my eyes, I refused to believe that this day has come. The day I had dreaded for the past few weeks.

My wedding day.

No doubt that Butch was going to try to act like a fool in front of everyone, and possibly embarrass me in some way. I knew that he wasn't afraid of publicly shaming someone, but I knew that he wasn't keen on marrying me. However, I couldn't give into him and his childish demands, I knew I wasn't as strong or as bold as all the other girls my age, but I still had some fight left in me, or at least I hoped I did.

The voice was now gone, leaving me in peace. But this was my wedding day, of course the voice wasn't gone for a long time – miracles don't just happen, unfortunately. After a few more minutes of my halcyon sleep, I heard probably the most dreadful noise I could possibly hear. It was almost as if two pans were being beat together, but in a orderly fashion, it sure as hell wasn't out of rhythm.

"Lilly, wake up!" It was clear that it was Christine yelling and banging pans together. I slowly began opening my restless eyes, letting the fluorescent light of the room hit my eyes, which made me flinch suddenly before I hit my head back on my pillow. "Oh, no you don't!" I heard Christine drop the pans on the ground before grabbing my arm and pulling me away from my baby, my beautiful pillow.

"Ugh. Christine, let me die in peace. Not out of embarrassment." I sneered, almost jokingly. However, I knew in my heart that I was as serious as Susie thinking that the earth is flat, and she was pretty darn serious about it. And she calls me dumb.

"Oh, come on. You know Butch won't try to embarrass you during the wedding, and besides, the guards will be watching him and his little group." Christine informed me. I glared back at her completely impassive at her attempt to make me feel better.

"Ugh. I'll give you that one, but that's it." I sighed. I slowly stumbled out of my bed and into the bathroom, where I preformed my daily routine, as if nothing _important_ was happening today.

As soon as I cleaned myself up, I left the bathroom in a complete disarray. Christine had laid my dress on the bed, along side the white, peep toe heels. She looked more astonished by the clothes than I was, but why shouldn't she? She was marrying the man she _loved_ , not a man she _resented_ , not a man who _bullied_ her most of her life. I took a deep breath before approaching the very, out of place, Christine.

Christine snapped out of her deep thoughts as she handed me the dress we made together, with a little help from Ellen, when she was sober, and Beatrice, when she wasn't too busy being a gossip hound. I stared at the dress again, observing every detail that was on the dress. It was pretty simple – the main color of it was white, from the waist down the silk material was covered in laces, along with the sleeves of the dress, it was finished off with a silky belt which would be tied around my waist.

Christine helped me get dressed after my observation of the dress we had made together. And Butch thought I'd wear rags on our wedding day, I'm just glad I could prove him wrong for once. As soon as we were finished, I stood in front of the mirror to distinguish my image. The dress was quite tight around my chest and waist, revealing my more curvy figure. However, we didn't make a dress which would reveal my breast too much, or at all. I was raised to be a modest girl, and that wasn't changing any time soon.

"Alright. I guess I'm done." I smiled, throwing my arms beside my hips as I turned to look at Christine, who gave me the most perplexed look I've ever seen.

"You're kidding, right? What about your hair and make up?" Christine began questioning me. I quickly stared back at the mirror, only to realize that I was nowhere near done. Christine could play about with my hair, but I was going to go all natural, with maybe some lipgloss and mascara.

"Fine, you can tie my hair up. But that's it!" I warned her. I heard Christine sigh before she pulled me toward a chair, which was in front of the dining table. I felt her grasp my hair in her hand as she began brushing it from my hairline to the very ends, I don't know what she was doing, but it hurt like hell.

After Christine was finally finished, she ordered me to go to the mirror, where I saw a whole different me – a me I was astonished to look at. My golden red hair was tied up in a quite a messy bun as some of my curly hair wasn't completely sorted, and a few of my curls hung loosely over my olive toned face. Christine picked up a beautiful lily shaped hairpiece and placed it beside my bun, smiling as she did so.

"Now, let's put your make up on!" Christine excitedly squealed. She pulled me back on the chair I had sat on previously before she pulled out a small, auburn colored bag out of her pocket. She opened it quickly and began to play around with it. I was terrified that she was going to make me look like Susie or something, I'm surprised she could even see past all of her make up.

The make up took longer to apply than I had anticipated it to, but the tedious wait had its astonishing reward. Christine had blended the golden and black eyeshadow together, she applied a little mascara and lipgloss. Although I wore make up, it was overdone as if I was desperate or something.

"Now that I've done your make up, I'm going to get ready myself." Christine smiled before skipping out of the room. Even though my mood was a little more light and eased up, I still felt upset. It wasn't only because it was my wedding day, but today I felt confident, bright, beautiful, but only because I was glammed up to meet everyone's expectations for a bride.

I didn't move from my seat as my eyes fell down on the ground. I wanted my mother to be here, I felt as if she would make me feel more confident than I feel all the time, and even though my father was my biggest supporter, my heart still felt empty without my birth mother. What scared me even more was what happened to my mother, and how I was to blame. Butch's words began ringing in my head again, him forcing himself on me was what scared me. Yes, he was a bad person, but was he that low?

I heard the door slide open, to reveal my father at the doorway. He wasn't even wearing his usual Lab coat, instead he was wearing a tuxedo. He had a frown placed on his face as we glared at each other, I knew for a fact that he was as upset as I was, but he could've prevented this, and I couldn't. I steadily stood up and walked over to my father before he pulled me into a hug, I rested my head on his chest as I tried to keep back my tears.

"Oh, sweetheart. I'm sorry that this is what has to happen. You know that I didn't mean for any of this to happen." My father said, apologetically. I pulled away before looking up at him with a small smile placed on my face, although it was fake, I wanted to reassure my father that I wasn't mad at him anymore.

"Don't worry, father. I'll manage somehow, I promise." I assured him. Inside, I was scared. I couldn't handle Butch and I knew that, so lying to myself and everyone around me wasn't helping anyone, especially me.

I placed the vail on my head as I glared at the mirror. My father walked up to me with an average size box in his hands, I glanced down at the box as he opened it. I couldn't believe my own eyes when I saw the delicate necklace placed inside it – it was a simple, silver necklace with a few small crystals embedded into the lace, the letter C was also embedded with small, delicate crystals. Father placed the necklace around my neck before looking back at me.

"Your mother wanted me to give you this when you get married, she made me promise that I will walk you down that aisle with smiles on both of our faces." Father told me. I immediately frowned at him as he mentioned walking down the aisle once again, and how mom wanted us to me happy with my marriage.

After a few sentimental moments with my father, we left the apartment in a haste. The atrium looked decent for once, the aisle stood out the most as it was the only object that wasn't in blue, which was the only thing Butch didn't have a say in with his color scheme, which was basically just blue, everywhere. There were seats placed beside the aisle on both sides, with bouquets of flowers place in their designated vases which were placed beside each row of the chairs, the back of the chairs each had a blue ribbon tied around it and there were, of course blue, balloons placed around the atrium.

There was a banquet table filled with various snacks and a massive fruit punch bowl, which no doubt Butch and his little friends will fill with liquor. Of course, the huge cake stood out the most as it was beautifully decorated with various patterns, and was also not only in blue. As I could imagine, Beatrice and Ellen had prepared the cake, as they were fairly talented when it came to baking, that is when Ellen was actually sober.

There were a few tables placed around the atrium, to sit guests down as far as I could imagine. They weren't anything fancy, as you wouldn't expect in a 200 year old vault. This wedding was probably the fanciest event I'd ever receive in my whole life in this vault. I wasn't complaining completely, since there was wine, food and an enormous cake. What more could a woman want? Oh, right. The husband, I almost forgot.

Wish I hadn't remembered.

Apart from that, I saw many of the guest had arrived way before me. There was Susie, Amata, Paul, Beatrice, Gloria, Allen, Wally, Stevie, Freddie, Pepper, Herman, Monica, Mary and well… some others. For the first time in forever, they weren't wearing their vault jumpsuits and they were wearing pretty sophisticated clothes. I supposed some were in their families for generations, others were found in the storage and the rest were probably retrieved from expeditions.

I about shrieked when Christine jumped out from behind me, with the biggest smile on her face. She looked as if she was the one getting married, and she sure as hell was acting as if she was the one who was getting married.

"Oh, my. Is Butch not here yet?" Christine questioned, glancing around the atrium, with a quite concerned look on her face. "Well, should we get a drink instead?"

"You wanna get me drunk?" I laughed. Christine rolled her eyes before dragging me to the banquet table, she poured herself some of the punch before picking up a heart shaped cookie. This was what cringe felt like, I suppose. "Heart shaped cookies, really? Who came up with this idea?"

"Probably Beatrice, she's always been kinda desperate when it came to love." Christine pointed out. I didn't think she'd ever speak like that about her own aunt, but what did I know?

"Hmm. Makes sense. Hey, do you think it's likely that there'll be poison in that cake so I could die today?" I asked, almost humorously. However, there was a part of me that just wanted to poison myself right there, right then.

"I doubt it, to be honest. I'm sure it was Ellen who made the cake, she'll want grandkids. So, don't think you're getting off this easy." Christine smugly said. I saw her look at me with her peripheral vision with a smug smile on her face as she held the cup to her lips.

"You're hilarious, you should take up comedy." I sneered. I took a bite of the heart shaped cookie as I uncomfortably glanced around the room. Still no sign of Butch, I mean I didn't care, I just didn't want to be stood up, I prefer to stand someone up instead. Saves the embarrassment.

It was at that precise moment Christine and I heard voices coming from the cafeteria, it was of course, Butch loud one and Ellen's quite meek one as she tried to argue with her very pathetic son, my future _husband_. I immediately grunted and walked way from the banquet table, completely trying to avoid all contact with Butch. I knew that he was just gonna get drunk and act like a pathetic jerk the whole night, so I might as well start ignoring him now. Mentally prepare myself for the next years until I kill myself.

I heard Butch tell Ellen to leave him alone in a very antagonized manner, almost leaving me to believe that Butch was already drunk and pissed off. Unfortunately for me, Ellen had someone else to cling to now, and it was me. I heard her clap her hands behind me as she walked up to me and immediately grabbed my arm to turn me around to face her. Ellen had the biggest smile on her face as she stared at me, observing my image.

"Oh, honey. I'm so happy for the two of you." Ellen exclaimed, clasping her hands on her mouth as tears began streaming down her face which was also accompanied by her, now smudged, eyeliner.

"Well, at least that makes one of us." I told her, very smugly, raising my wine glass in the air before chugging down the wine. Ellen quickly grabbed the wine glass off me and placed in on the table behind me.

"I understand that Butch wasn't always the most pleasant boy towards you, but just because you're marrying him doesn't mean you can start throwing yourself to alcohol, understood?" Ellen sternly began lecturing me. I could only suppose that she felt so strongly about this alcohol problem because of her forced marriage and where it led her.

"Yes, Ms DeLoria."

"Oh, hon. Call me mom if you want. I just don't want you to become what I became when I had to marry Butch's father. I want your children to grow up happier than my Butchie did, promise me that. Promise me that my grandchildren will have loving parents, who didn't slip into alcoholism." Ellen almost began begging.

"I – I promise." I reluctantly vowed to myself. Ellen's frown was immediately replace with the smile she had on her face previously. Ellen quickly clapped her hands again before grabbing my arm with both of her hands, she began dragging me towards Butch and his gang of delinquents. I tried to stop, but the woman was hella strong.

"Butchie, spend some more time with your bride. You'll have more time to spend with your friends later." Ellen commanded. I felt my face being to burn as Butch glared at me, Wally just looked at me with that horrible smug look he put on when he looked at women who weren't related to him, and weren't too old or too young. Paul, well Paul just frowned at me, he looked quite worried as well as sad.

"I think I'm gonna go." I tried to free myself as I shyly smiled. Ellen just tugged on my arm harder as she stared at Butch.

"Nah, you can stay." Wally snidely commented, with his horrible grin. I wanted to turn around and run out of the vault, but that wasn't even _possible_! Ellen glared at Wally in complete disgust.

"Wally if you cannot keep these disgusting comments to yourself, then please leave." Ellen spat. She was always disgusted by Wally and his abominable behavior, always blaming him for the way Butch began behaving. As Gloria always blamed Butch for the way Wally was behaving. The truth was, no one actually knew whose fault it was.

"Oh, I'm truly sorry, Ms DeLoria. I'm sure Butch wants to be alone with his elaborated fiancé." Wally sarcastically spoke up, grinning at Butch before putting a cigarette between his lips. I looked at him in disgust as Butch sighed at all three of us.

"Mom, leave me alone. I don't need to spend any extra time with her, geez." Butch bickered. Ellen let go off me before walking closer to her son, in a matter of seconds they were at it again. Wally and Paul shrugged their shoulders before leaving the scene all together, I immediately turned around and paced back to Christine, avoiding looking back at the two.

After a few drinks and after a whole hour passed, the Overseer ordered that people would take their seats as it was time for us to marry. I felt my heart sink at that very word, I glanced around the room, trying to contain my rapid heartbeat which was causing me to almost hyperventilate, I felt as if I was going to have a panic attack. I felt my father hold my hand for reassurance, but I just kept feeling worse. The whole atrium fell silent when Stanley turned on 'I Don't Want To Set The World On Fire' by the Ink Spots.

I held onto my father's arm as he began walking me down the aisle, my heartbeat getting more rapid by the second, my vision began blurring, I felt like my knees were gonna give in at any moment – I _hoped_ that they'd give in. Maybe there wouldn't be a wedding anymore. But before I knew it, I was standing face to face in front of my childhood bully. Alphonse cleared his throat as he glared at out hands, clearly waiting until we held hands. We refused for almost twenty seconds but it became clear he wouldn't speak otherwise, and that was when I felt Butch grab my hands. I could tell he was just a nervous as I was, since his hand were sweaty as all hell. I took a deep breath before averting my eyes from his blue ones, it was then Alphonse began to speak.

I had spaced out the whole time, until his question began ringing in my ears. "Do you take, Butch DeLoria, to be lawfully wedded husband?" I glared at him for a split second, seriously contemplating whether I should make a run for it, say yes or say no.

"Umm. Do I have a choice?" I asked meekly. I heard a few giggles from the crowd, but Alphonse and Butch's faces looked completely unimpressed and annoyed at my question. "Yes, yes I do then."

"And do you, Butch DeLoria, take, Lilly Lunah, to be your lawfully wedded wife?" Alphonse turned his head to face Butch.

"Yeah, yeah." Butch sighed.

"Can we have the rings now?" Alphonse glared at Paul and Christine, who quickly shuffled towards the us. Butch took the ring and placed it on my petite finger – it just felt so cold and unwelcoming. I did the same with the ring I was given by Christine and placed it on his rather large finger. "You may now kiss the bride."

The crowd began murmuring as soon as Alphonse finished. I glanced around the room, uncomfortably as Butch did the same. However, he was quick to speak up against kissing me, which I was glad about. I wasn't prepared to kiss this greaseball.

"Can't we like step on a wine glass, like those other people do?" Butch protested. I wanted to get my hands out of his grip but his darn grip was too strong.

"No, you must kiss the bride." Alphonse repeated himself, only louder this time. It made me physically cringe at the very thought of us kissing, but we eventually looked at one another in complete disgust. We tried to lean in at the same time, slowly and gradually. I could feel his heavy breathing in my face as we quickly kissed, I felt him let go of my hands and move his hands on my waist, pulling me very close to him.

We quickly pulled away, after realization hit us both. I glanced around the room, to receive some pretty surprised looks, but Susie and Amata looked completely disgusted. Butch's face was now a crimson red color as his eyes averted from mine, there was only one question on my mind: what the hell had just happened?

The crowd began clapping as Butch and I walked back down the aisle, heads hung out of embarrassment. I could hear Wally and Paul making sneering remarks at what just had happened, and it made me sick.

 _As some of you may know, I am officially continuing with the story with help from LillaLu, who had graciously given the story to me. I do hope you guys are enjoying this story so far. Next Chapter – the after party._


	6. A Party to Forget

Chapter 6 – A Party to Forget

LILLY

I had to admit, I was still pretty flabbergasted by Butch's actions at the alter, that kiss felt so passionate, but so unwanted at the same time, leaving me confused to this very point in time. However, I wasn't the only one set in a perplexed state of mind, it was practically everyone in the vault. Whilst Christine and Ellen were astonished by his actions, Susie was completely disgusted by Butch and it was very obvious why she was so angry. It wasn't her at the alter kissing Butch and vowing to spend the rest of her life with him.

After the tremendously cringeworthy wedding ceremony, people stuck around to eat, get drunk, get into their regular fights and try to give me words of wisdom, which of course I appreciated. I didn't pay attention to Butch too much, but I didn't want him to get awfully drunk and cause a massive brawl between him and the officers. Alphonse had told me that the security guards and himself would keep a close eye on Butch and his gang of delinquents, to avoid any embarrassment they could cause me, or themselves.

I sat by myself on the table nearest the banquet, to be closest to the food and drinks I would occasionally pick up on. Christine had left to hang out with Paul for a bit, while Ellen had sat down with my father to discuss… something, I guess. So, that left me on my own. This wasn't the wedding I had imagined for myself, but living in a vault meant that you wouldn't get to live a long wanted dream. As I said, that would be almost a miracle. However, I wasn't alone for a long time, no, no, no, Susie Mack decided to give me her _words of wisdom_.

I grunted as she sat down in front of me, with a horrible smug look on her face – her and Wally do hold some sort of resemblance. I could've never noticed. "You might be married to Butch, but he'll never love you as much as he loves me. Got that?" She spat.

"Of course. It's not like I care." I groaned in reply. Susie gave me a smiled before getting up off the chair and leaving me to myself. There were too many witty comebacks I had for that bimbo, but I couldn't afford to start a brawl with her, which would only level me down to Butch's immaturity level. And for what?

Whilst I sat, carefully thinking to myself. I saw Butch and Wally approach the banquet table, I tried to pay little attention, but their sneering laughs and snickers made my head snap their direction. As I though, Wally pulled out a flask and began pouring out the content into the fruit punch, and no doubt he had the strong shit like vodka or whiskey. He was one of the more wealthy people in this vault, so when the time came, Butch and Paul would look to him for the best alcohol and cigarettes in the vault.

I grumbled before turning back to state at the blank table before I heard Christine's voice taking over the whole area as she scolded Wally and Butch. I could've sworn I heard a few perverted comments thrown her way by Butch, at least Wally had the decency not to say anything inappropriate to his cousin, otherwise I would definitely think Wally is mentally retarded.

Christine took pulled up a seat beside me before sitting down, mumbling some words that were unclear to me. She glanced back Butch and Wally for a few second before finally speaking in an understandable tone. "Those jerks manage to ruin everything, I can't believe them."

"I can. I mean, it's Butch and Wally, what more could you expect?" I scoffed.

"Yeah, you're right. But, don't they ever feel ashamed of the things they do?"

"Maybe. But they hate me, remember? They'll never feel any shame when they ruin something for me."

AUTHOR

As manipulative and persuasive Susie was, she had managed to get Butch out of the party – although she didn't have to persuade him in any way. Butch wasn't going to turn his back on Susie, despite their current situation and how much trouble their promiscuous behavior could get them into.

The two stood outside the cafeteria, making out for the past ten minutes, not wary of their surroundings and the people who could stumble across their 'unacceptable' behavior. Susie was persuasive and very manipulative, while Butch was aggressive and violent, so getting someone off their backs wasn't going to be difficult, as long as they were the same age as them.

Susie hastily pushed Butch away before opening her mouth to speak, and not to do the many things she did with her mouth. "I hope you never fall in love with that spaz, and you remember me all day, every day."

"Aw. You worry? I don't know why, but I guess you have your reasons." Butch let out a laugh. He vowed to himself that Lilly wouldn't be the love of his life, despite how much he thought about her, despite the fact that today, out of all the others, he saw how beautiful Lilly truly was and how he was as blind the whole time.

"Well, yeah. I mean, she doesn't look like shit today, does she? She looks..." Susie flustered, glancing around the hallway as if looking for words to describe Lilly. " _Decent_."

"Yeah, she looks decent today. Who said she'll try to look decent any other days aside today?" Butch inquired.

"I guess you're right. Should we go somewhere more private? I mean… that party blows, and I think you and I could have a little more fun." Susie offered, entangling her fingers with Butch's as she glared up at him with her puppy eyes.

"You realize how much trouble we'll get in, right?"

"Butch, you don't actually care, do you?" Susie scoffed.

"Pfft. No. Let's go then."

As Butch and Susie turned the corner, hand in hand. Amata left the spot she had been basically guarding during the whole charade, she knew where she stood with Lilly and how their relationship had been doing for the past few weeks, but Amata felt the need to tell Lilly about this. However, instead of doing what'll cause less trouble, Princess 101 went to her father instead. She knew that Butch wasn't allowed to do anything out of line, but if he did, it'd be Lilly who'd suffer as well. For every bad thing Butch and Lilly did, an extra day was added to their 'honeymoon'. Which was already going to be unpleasant enough, they just didn't know that yet.

As soon as Alphonse was informed about Butch and Susie's promiscuous behavior, he had sent his guards to search for them, with the exception of Stevie as the last thing he wanted was a family drama to break out in the middle of a wedding, although drama was going to break out. Alphonse may have never like James and Lilly, he still felt a certain sympathy for the young woman, that was exactly why he had ordered the guards to keep a closer eye on Butch when they wed, especially after hearing what Butch had to say to Lilly and him forcing himself on her. Alphonse didn't want a child to be conceived by physical force in this vault, it'd be shameful.

The party was over sooner than it was meant to be due to Butch's inappropriate behavior, Alphonse wanted to send the two 'lovebirds' to spend extra time together, or that was what he said when he shut the whole party down. Not many people did complain though, many were quite relieved to be able to go home after a tedious wedding ceremony that dragged on way too long. Lilly went to her father for guidance, she wasn't looking forward to the end of the wedding because she was now to _live_ with Butch.

Alphonse led the four down to the newlyweds' apartment, where Ellen and James would eventually say their farewells and warn Butch about the consequences his abusive actions could lead to, so for his, and everyone else's, sake he shouldn't do something he'd regret later on. Lilly felt her heart shatter into a million little pieces the moment the two were left alone, and despite the fact that Butch hadn't said a word to her, his very presence had terrified the girl. His words would constantly ring in her ears, reminding her that Butch would never love her the way a husband should love his wife.

The fact that this wedding was in a vault, there wasn't any wedding gifts apart from an extra room for newlyweds – a nursery. Yes, Christine and their parents had given them gifts, but in everyone else's eyes, turning up was a gift itself.

Lilly felt herself get more nauseous by the second as she glared into the empty nursery, once again, Butch's words taunted her and her very soul. It scared her even more because she was completely vulnerable to him – he was stronger, faster and they were completely alone, shut out from the rest of the vault. Who would she run to?

"Nosebleed, why'd you keep staring into that fucking room? It's gettin' creepy." Butch inquired, lighting up a cigarette before putting the death stick between his lips.

Lilly glanced at him for a slit second before averting her eyes away, afraid of his very sight. "Did you mean what you said? You know, when you said you'll force yourself on me when no one's there to stop you?" Lilly asked, very meekly.

Butch scoffed, mockingly. "What, you think I'd fuck you? No, thanks." He glared at Lilly, who was still standing as still as a statue, as if she was frozen in that very place. "Look, I'm a jerk towards you, but I ain't gonna rape you or some shit. When the time comes, we'll do whatever the fuck we have to do. Stop fussin'."

"How can I believe that? When, not long ago you were stuffing me into lockers, punching me straight in the face, pushing me down to the ground and let's no forget how you almost _pushed_ me down the stairs. How can I believe _you_?" Lilly questioned, blinded by the tears in her eyes.

"Well, for one, if I actually would've wanted to rape you, I would've by now. Two, I ain't that big of an asshole. And three, it's different now - I'm not just your childhood bully, I'm your husband. Remember that, nosebleed." Butch explained. Before another words flew out of their mouths, Lilly stumbled over to the couch, where she took a seat and began wiping the tears off her cheeks. Was what he was saying true? Was he willing to give her a chance?

"It's nice to hear you say that without you pushing me against a wall, and pointing a knife at my throat." Lilly spoke, meekly. Butch immediately sighed as he remembered what had caused her to be this petrified in the first place, and it hit him like a thousand knifes.

"I was pissed. What could you expect from me? I didn't mean what I said, apart from the 'I don't love you' part."

"Thanks, you made my day so much better." Lilly sneered, looking at him from her tissue. Butch was left speechless, not really understanding where Lilly's attitude had all the sudden come from. She wasn't normally rude, nor did she ever raise her voice at others, especially Butch. Yes, she had stuck up for Amata before and yelled at Butch and his group of delinquents, but that was the only time she really did yell at someone.

LILLY

A few hours had passed since we were _locked_ in our apartment together, and Butch was already driving me insane – his loud chewing when he ate food, his constant blabbing about what a jerk the overseer was, the amount of alcohol he managed to drink in only _two_ hours, his loud rummaging through the box of his things, basically _everything_. I was vulnerable and couldn't say anything, I was too scared and too nervous.

Alphonse came to speak to us about our sleeping arrangements and how our bed had some special alarm attached to it, so if we weren't in bed _together_ for more than two hours after nine, it would be set off and would turn off until the sensors detect the both of us. It was complete crap, this was like dictatorship and _none_ of us a say in this. Butch was already pissed off enough, so when Alphonse had informed us about the sleeping arrangement, he almost killed someone with his violent outburst.

When evening came, I wanted to prepare myself for bed. However, I still had my dress on and I was still suffering inside, I also couldn't reach the zip. I couldn't ask Butch, he's just laugh and call me fat or something like that. That was in his nature. I attempted to reach for the zip, moving my fingers up to the zip, but instead I just let out a groan.

"Come here." Butch ordered. I huffed before walking towards him, he grabbed my arms and turned me around, pulling my zip down quickly. A very awkward silence followed by as I could only assume, Butch was staring at me. I quickly turned around to look at him before thanking him. "See, I ain't that bad. I can be helpful."

"Yes, when you're gonna get something out of it."

I smiled before walking into the bathroom, where I had prepared myself for bed. Knowing Butch would take forever in the bathroom, I had taken it upon myself to go first. The last thing I wanted to do was sleep in the same bed as Butch, but I didn't have a choice. I could've slept on the couch, but that would set off an alarm the whole block could hear, that wouldn't be a good start to an unwanted marriage.

I climbed into the quite serene bed with a huff, but I couldn't complain too much as the bed was actually very cozy and it made me feel soothed for some moments. I grabbed the book off my nightstand before slipping on my reading glasses, I began memorizing each and every word written on the pages. The composed serenity of the room was very relaxing and calming, I felt relaxed for the first time in so long. So very long.

However, my peace was crushed the moment Butch stomped into the bedroom. I must've spaced out while I was reading, but Butch was already changed and ready to hit the hay. I felt the mattress shift slightly as she climbed into bed, grunting to himself as he began fixing his pillows up. I glanced at him quickly before looking back at my book.

"Nerd." I heard him slightly scoff. I let out an exasperated sigh as I glared at him. I honestly thought that he was done with insulting me for being me, but who was I kidding?

"Excuse me? I'm trying to read a book, why has that got to be a problem?" I asked. Once again, Butch scoffed as he put his head down on the pillow, turning away to face the wall.

"Turn the fucking light off, I wanna sleep." Butch growled, growing more irritated by the moment. I obeyed, silently muttering to myself as I did so.

"So, about what you said -"

"Can it, nosebleed. Some people are tryin' to sleep here."

I canned it.

Despite my best efforts to make myself a little more likable for Butch, I found it difficult to try and _change_ myself tor someone I didn't love. But what would I do? I couldn't live my life letting Butch have the satisfaction of making my life a living hell, a life I didn't want to live anymore. Night by night, I prayed that I'd see the light, I prayed that the Lord would take my soul. I was already dead inside for many years, all those years of being bullied, stuffed into lockers, pushed around, beat to the ground, and it all led to this.

I was laying in the same bed as my childhood bully.

Author's Note – So I know this update took a little while, but I still got it out to you guys and I hope it was good. Massive thanks to all of the support I've gotten, and also thanks to LillaLu for helping me with this story;

However, I will not be able to update so frequently because of school and exams, when I come back from school I do usually have spare time, so that's when I write. But with the exams coming up it may be a bit more difficult to fit that in as well.

I promise I'll try though. Thanks again for all of you support, guys!

 _DreamformusicP_


	7. One Week Honeymoon

Hey guys, I know that this is really delayed but it's out now! Anyway, I made a Fallout based Tumblr page, which is gonna be reactions, pictures, quotes and extras:

Chapter 7 – One Week Honeymoon

LILLY

Five lousy days had passed, each one worse than the previous one. It still baffled me that they had the decency to lock me up with my childhood bully, and all they said was, 'things will change, he's your husband, he won't beat up.' I don't know, maybe they were hoping he wouldn't end up like his deadbeat father, who had died during a freak accident or something like that – the Overseer was quite secretive about his death, and many other deaths that didn't really make a whole lot of sense. I was more wary of my surrounding, keeping my guard up at all times, in hopes that I wouldn't give Butch the satisfaction to hurt me.

The whole week I had been unpacking my things and moving them in their allocated places, some of them were hidden from Butch's eye, since I wasn't going to trust him with my favorite and most memorable items. Despite his 'changed' behavior towards me, I knew that he was still blaming me and father for the arranged marriage, I couldn't understand the guy's reasoning. However, I had managed to keep my mouth shut about his stupidity.

While I was rummaging though the box of my things, I had come across an averaged size book. I opened up to the first page to reveal an old, colorless picture of myself and father. I couldn't recall when the picture was taken, or where it was, but I was happy to stand beside my father as he held my hand, my face was small but chubby and my hair was pulled into a ponytail. I looked up at the top of the page, where the picture was stuck on, the date revealed 25th July, 2268. It was the day of the baseball tournament. It wasn't something I had signed up to do, but my father insisted that I would join in with the vault's various activities.

"Whatcha lookin' at, nosebleed?" I heard Butch ask as she grabbed the photo book out of my hands, I immediately stood up and attempted to grab it off him, but he moved the book further away from me, glaring at it. "When was this, pipsqueak?"

"Read the date. It was the day of the baseball tournament. You know, the day I hit you with the ball." I snickered, glancing at Butch quickly before facing the ground, unable to contain my giggling.

"That wasn't funny!" Butch yelled, defensively. I just couldn't help but giggle to myself at the very image of the ball hitting his radroach face. I remember that a couple days after, he chased me down the whole vault to punch me back in the face as revenge, I couldn't recall whether he did punch me.

"It was to me, and the rest of the team." I reminded him. "Besides, it was an _accident_." I retorted. Butch gave me the dirtiest look I've ever seen him give me, I thought that at that moment he was going to kill me.

"Yeah, right." Butch scoffed before walking away. I plopped down beside the photo album he had dropped on the ground before scanning through the rest of the pictures.

There was one I had adored. The day was Tuesday 25th of March, 2273 and I remember the annual bake off was held at the cafeteria again, and Amata and I were compelled to attend it just for the sake of it. Of course, I wasn't as overwrought about the even as Amata was but we were guaranteed a win since she was the overseer's daughter, he would've had his say in it even if it was hosted by Beatrice and Gloria. I remember we came second, after Susie's entry, since she obviously had her mom bake the cake and she'd just give it in and take all the credit. That was just in Susie's nature. They took picture pictures of the contestants after the bake off and pinned the pictures on the cafeteria's bulletin board, we, unfortunately, had to take the pictures home after.

Then there was one before the G.O.A.T exam, it was of me, Amata, Janice and Eliza – the group I was apart of. It was on Janice's birthday and she wanted to keep the memory, but there were enough pictures for us to all take home. Janice wasn't hugely popular, but she was respected by most people, unlike me. However, she wasn't a judgmental cow like Susie. I couldn't recall what happened during the birthday, but I do remember that, that was the same week Susie and Butch began hooking up, I think that Wally and Butch had an argument on Janice's birthday which almost resulted in a fight, which ended the birthday party.

Some time after the G.O.A.T, there was a class photograph taken of us along with Mr Brotch, we got to keep the copies but the original was hung up in the classroom along with the previous class photos of previous generations. That picture was probably one of the worst, with Butch standing behind me, poking his fingers out from behind my head making it look as if I had fucking horns. Susie and Christine were both standing beside Freddie and Paul, whom they both had a huge crush on – Susie had broken up with Butch some time before, since their relationship lasted a few weeks. I was at the front with the rest of the shorter people – Amata, Janice, Eliza, Christine and Susie. While the guys were at the back, acting like complete idiots.

I was invited to Susie's 16th birthday party, I supposed because her mother had apparently forced her to let me come to her party. At first I was very skeptical about going, since I knew she was probably going to embarrass me for everyone's entertainment, no one would stick up for me, would they? Amata was friends with Susie since I could remember, same with Janice and Eliza. I wasn't friends with Christine at the time anyway, so there was practically no way she'd ever tell Susie to lay off. However, I had avoided Susie at all times, despite how difficult it was considering there wasn't a large amount of space to start avoiding people. But, it was Susie and Wally who had their little scheme planned and I remember them dunking a whole bucket of freezing water over my head, in front of everyone. Served me right for attending that bitch's party.

However, despite the hundreds of abominable memories I've had in the years, there were a few that I cherished. Yes, there wasn't a lot, but there was a few, and I could appreciate that. I wasn't like any other girl in this vault, I wasn't a beauty queen unlike Susie and Christine, I wasn't the overseer's daughter unlike Amata, and I certainly wasn't Eliza, who was a fairly appreciated girl since she was Mr Brotch's only daughter, and she apparently knew the homework answers and such. Hmm… I think she would've lied to the delinquents about the homework answers.

"Nosebleed, whatcha thinking about?" I heard Butch inquire as he plopped down beside me, pulling the photo album in front of him. "I almost forgot how much our class hated you. Weird."

"Nothing you need to be concerned about. Besides, living with you for the past week has been worse than all of your insults combined together, believe me." I answered, simply.

"Don't get all bitchy towards me, pipsqueak. I could still beat your ass up." Butch blustered. I looked over at him before rolling my eye in response to his little 'threat'. Yes, he was capable of anything but he couldn't risk being incarcerated.

I turned to look back at the photo album, in peace. The atmosphere was overtaken by a desolate silence, yet it wasn't uncomfortable, it was congenial. I began thinking back to the start of the week when I thought that I'd be dead by Saturday, but Butch wouldn't even lay a finger on me. He had his absolutely ghastly habits, but they were something I could overcome, or at least I thought I could. I knew that the two years we've been given would end sooner than we'd anticipated to, but this was just the punishment of living in a vault.

The silence was quickly abolished by the sound of the door sliding up, Alphonse had entered the room with two of his guards trailing behind him. I didn't know what to expect, but I had hoped that today was the day they'd let us out of the fucking apartment, let us go our ways. I saw Butch immediately scamper towards the gateway to freedom, but Officer Gomez was quick to stop him and pull him back to the room. I couldn't tell what Herman and Butch began faintly bickering about, but it was obvious that Butch was defeated.

"Now, if you're finished. It's Saturday, which means you'll both be allowed to leave the apartment and do what you will. However, Mr DeLoria, if you decide to bully Miss Lunah, there will be dire consequences. And Miss Lunah, I hope that you have studied at least a bit more for your new job." Alphonse warned Butch.

"Yes, I have."

"Good. But you and Christine will have some extra time to study together, which will make things a lot easier for you both." Alphonse informed me.

"Yeah, yeah. Great. Can I go now?" Butch grunted, impatiently. Alphonse sighed before gesturing for Butch to leave, he didn't hesitate before darting out of the room, grabbing his jacket before exiting. It felt more reassuring to be away from Butch, I felt like me again. I didn't feel like the arrogant girl I was for the past week.

"Miss Lunah, you can go now." I heard his voice again. I must've spaced out.

I quickly stumbled back onto my feet before heading out of the door, where was I even gonna go? I didn't have friends anymore, apart from Christine and Janice, but no doubt they would've been around Susie and Amata – the two I was trying to avoid. Amata I didn't fear, but Susie was just like her brothers, she wasn't scared to put up a fight if she wanted. Besides, she'd either have her brothers or her father to get her out of trouble, the family was favorited by the overseer himself. Being hated by the overseer's favorite family wasn't the nicest thing that could've happened to me, but that was my life now.

I walked to the cafeteria since it was still lunch, in hopes that I'd run into someone I liked. I wanted to have a normal conversation with someone agreeable, but the one person I got along with would probably be too busy studying, that was in Christine's nature. She was hard working woman, unlike Susie, her parents had wanted her to succeed and have an acceptable job. Although there wasn't much of a choice of what job you could even have.

The cafeteria was actually quite deserted, with only a few people sitting around a couple of tables. I saw Christine sitting on her own, scanning through the book she had placed in front of her. She lifted the cup of coffee up to her lips before taking a sip, she looked absolutely drowsy as if she was about to pass out on top of the book itself. She was either studying for really long, or the book was absolute horseshit. I couldn't tell. I sat down in front of her, but it still took her a couple of moments to notice me.

"Oh, hey! Is the honeymoon over?" Christine slurred. She looked awful, she had bags under her eyes, her skin was absolutely pale, she looked as if she hadn't slept in days and what was worse was the fact that she managed to grimace instead of smile.

"Oh my, have you even slept in the past few days? You look awful!" I exclaimed. Christine frowned before staring down at her book, I could see that she wasn't willing to study anymore, she was forced into studying.

"Yeah, no. I…I wasn't tired. This job, yeah, it's so important to me. I can't miss a day of studying." Christine's voice became more muffled as she spoke on. I still couldn't comprehend the situation Christine had placed herself in, but I had to do something.

"Christine, you have to sleep. This isn't healthy, and it's a bit ironic that you're risking your health while you learn about health. Now, let's go."

I got up off my seat before pulling her off the seat, she threw her arm over my shoulder as we began lumbering towards her parents' apartment, where she had resided her whole life (obviously), however, I could only assume she was going to move to another apartment after she had married Paul, into a more discreet location. I felt a certain resentment towards her, despite her being my best friend. I envied her – she was very well respected amongst our age group, she got to marry someone she loved and she was very pulchritudinous, perspective and highly intelligent. While I was only intelligent.

As soon as we walked into the apartment, Christine's mother, Mary, grabbed her daughter and pulled her close to her chest before cradling her as if she was a baby. Mary quickly paced, with Christine next to her, to one of the bedrooms before returning after a couple of minutes.

"Oh, thank you sweetie. Christine just wouldn't budge when I told her to go to sleep." Mary thanked. I had always like Mary, she encouraged Mary to become friends with me for years, but Christine only budged a couple of months ago.

"It's no problem, she is my friend after all."

"Oh, right. Well, you take care of yourself, darling. I have to make dinner." Mary emitted before rushing back to the kitchen. I didn't hesitate to leave the apartment as soon as I was told to.

I walked back to the cafeteria, which was now much more crowded than it was before. I sat down by myself beside the wall, contemplating whether I should eat or study. However, before I could even come close to a decision, Amata took a seat in front of me with a disgusting frown on her face.

"Lilly, we need to talk."

"Well, why else would you sit here?" I bluntly asked. I wasn't bothered by her or her reputation, which she had held as of now.

"Ugh. Anyway, I don't think we should be friends anymore. It's not you, it's just what I've come to." Amata 'informed' me. She was clearly rushing her sentences, and it was obvious she ran to Susie so she had to break the friendship up with me. Well, we didn't have much of a friendship to begin with.

"You're making it sound as if we were in a relationship. I don't care. So, you can run to Susie now." I spat.

"Well…you won't have any friends now. How does that make you feel, huh?" Now she sounded like a child, who was ditching me for someone better.

"What're you, ten? I don't care, I told you. Don't waste your time with me. Princess 101." I scoffed. Amata immediately scrambled up from her seat before leaving, I saw how enraged she had gotten. I wasn't a band person, I was just around bad people.

Typical Amata.

BUTCH

Despite how long I had to be around nosebleed, I still couldn't comprehend what I did to deserve this pathetic marriage. I was the hot shit in this vault, I ran a fucking gang whom everyone feared. While she was just nosebleed, not even the least bit attractive. This was just bullshit. I knew for a fact that Wally and Paul would go on about it for years to fucking come, yeah I could punch one of the in the face, but what the fuck would that do? It ain't ever stopped them from chatting shit before, it ain't gonna stop 'em now. Wally could say shit though, he was marrying the vault's princess, she wasn't any better than nosebleed.

I met up with those two roaches outside the cafeteria, right after I met up with Susie and did what any man would do – bang her. I could've only imagined how pissed Wally would've been if I had to marry his sister, why couldn't I see that instead? Shit, I would've payed to see that reaction. Instead I got nosebleed sharing the same bed as me, you could say my life was turning to shit.

"Look who finally decided to show up. What was it like sleeping with nosebleed?" Wally sneered. Yeah, I teased the shit out of nosebleed, but Wally genuinely hated the girl for some reason.

"Wouldn't you like to know. What's it like sleeping with Princess 101, huh? Oh, I forgot, even she would get in the same bed as you." I spat back. I saw Wally's fists clench up until they turned completely white. What the fuck was he so pissed off about? Even he knew him fucking self at she would sleep with him, the son of a bitch would probably kill her in her sleep.

"Watch your fucking mouth, jackass."

"Why don't you make me?"

I saw Wally's fists curl up into a ball as they began turning white, I could've sworn he was about to attack me before Gomez put his hand on Wally's shoulder. He immediately pulled him back before telling him something none of us could actually make out. Wally looked even more pissed as soon as Herman dragged him down the hall, I saw that Gomez's tight grip on Wally's arm made him uncomfortable. Huh, I guess you really can cage a Tunnel Snake.

All right, so I was thinking that the next chapter will focus more on Amata and Wally. If you guys don't want that, just tell me. I thought that it could be based around their relationship, or what should be considered a 'relationship'.


	8. An Influence From Hell

Chapter 8 – An Influence from Hell

AMATA

Throughout my years in the vault I had never feared Butch, he was a petty schoolyard bully who never did as he would say he would, apart from the obvious beatings that Lilly would get. However, Wally was a different story, he wasn't just a schoolyard bully, he was almost a criminal. Yet despite his probation term, he knew no boundaries for his threats and actions, whatever he said, went. In all honesty, he terrified me, he terrified many people in this vault. I could distinctly remember when Wally suggested of taking advantage of Lilly when she was 'out of it', Butch, Freddie and Paul were completely appalled by him, I remember even Butch was perplexed as all hell, he told Wally numerous times that if he does, the they're out of there. I couldn't recall what even happened, but from that day on, I realized that Wally was a man on his word.

 _You're the Overseer's daughter, you're special, remember?_

Special? That was the last thing I was, it wasn't because of some DNA test that I was paired with Wally. No, it was because Allen had personally asked my father to marry Wally off to me, all because _they_ get on well! It was complete bullshit. My father knew how much Wally tormented me throughout my teenage years, how much I began hating leaving the apartment, yet he had the audacity to marry me off to him! He cared about me alright.

My father had called me into his office to have a little 'chat', I hoped he called me in to tell me that I don't have to marry anyone, that I could just be a midwife or something. However, as soon as I entered his office, I realized that he wasn't alone. No, Allen Mack and Wally were also there. My heart sank into my butt, I tried to scramble back out of the room but my father noticed my presence and called me to sit beside Wally, instead, I just stood there in a completely bewildered manner. I caught a quick glance of Wally's disgusted look before my eyes averted from him. For the first time in my life, I was terrified of being in the one place I felt comfort.

"Come on, Amata. You cannot keep running away from this conversation." My father informed me, very sternly. I quickly glanced around the room before hastily stumbling towards the seat. As soon as I took a seat, my father cleared his throat before continuing on. "Now that we're all here, I shall begin. Wally, I want you to know that you're on probation, so if my daughter complains about your behavior towards her, I will personally kick you out of the program, understood?"

"Yeah, whatever." Wally murmured. Through my peripheral vision, I saw Allen glare at Wally before glancing back at my father. I didn't dare look at either one of them, instead I just kept my head down.

"If you don't see a bright future for yourself and _my_ daughter, then I don't see a reason for the two of you to marry." Father sternly told him. However, Allen was quick to object his son's anger towards me.

"Oh he does, believe me! Don't you, Wally?" Allen asked him. Despite it being a question, we all knew that Wally had no choice but to say what his father wanted him to say – I couldn't really tell you whether the rumors were true about the fact that Allen beat his kids, but due to their disgusting behavior, I could really make a guess that he did.

"Mhm. Sure, whatever." Came a dry reply from Wally. I couldn't comprehend his intentions, I really couldn't.

My father sighed. "I'm telling you Allen, if your son lays a hand on Amata, consider your reputation gone." Father warned. I raised my head to glared at him, acrimony filling my blood, the more I stared, the angrier I got. "Now as for the two of you, I have arranged the best apartment to be given to you – it has two bedrooms, a private bathroom, kitchen and living room. Now, when the time comes, one of the rooms will become a nursery."

"When exactly is _the time_?" I spoke up. My father started at me, completely flabbergasted by my sudden question as I had been quiet the whole time.

"When you're eighteen, Amata. It's not a long way away, sweetheart. As your father, I want to have grandchildren before I die. Don't disappoint me." Father's admonished. I felt my heart sink, my own father wanted me to have children with the man who sexually harassed me, who bullied me, who beat me and Lilly up. I couldn't believe him. I felt the urge to run out of my father's office and to Lilly's arms, she always comforted me and knew what to say. Except she hated me, all because of my pathetic behavior.

"I – I don't know that to say." My own blood betrayed me. I felt the blood in my veins boil out of my enragement. I stood up on my feet, choking back my tears as I attempted to speak. "I hate you! You – you're making me marry my _bully, all for your sake!_ For your _happiness!_ How could you? How dare you? You've always hated my best friend, but in the end she was there for me _, not you!_ " My voice filled the atmosphere of the office, father's face was covered in confusion and annoyance, while Wally looked perplexed. Just perplexed.

I felt my own feet take off as I rushed out of the room, attempting to keep my tears at bay until I left – I wasn't going to give father, Wally or Allen have the satisfaction of seeing me cry. _They were never going to see me cry_. I resented my father, as I hated his actions and intentions. His duty as Overseer had jeopardized our relationship as father and daughter, and I hated that. Maybe if mom was still alive things could've been different.

When I got to my room, the cool breeze from the air conditioning hit my face, giving me a small satisfaction. Although I regretted leaving my father like that, I had good reasons to justify my actions. I was his daughter and I didn't deserve to be married off to my childhood bully like that, and I don't think my father should've dictated everyone's future for his own selfish ambition. I began contemplating my decisions - the sudden images of my future became vivid in my mind – the private abuse that I couldn't report, our children who were going to grow up admiring Wally and resent their mother, they'll grow up disrespecting me and my friends while they kiss Wally's and his friends' asses and what would I do? Sit and suffer.

I couldn't prepare myself for my father's ranting and lecturing about the future of the vault and how I had to contribute. So, I left the room all together. Lilly was always the person I went to when I was in trouble, I kept in memory of the times when she stuck up for me, when she stuck by my side at all times no matter how bitchy and cruel I had become. What had I become?

I knew that Lilly had her morning shift at the clinic, along with Jonas and her father. While she helped out Jonas the most with the organizing and such, she attempted to aid the ones who were ill also. Lilly was quite busy recently, she was barely out of the clinic and for all I knew she hadn't even endeavored to spend supplementary time with Butch, not that I was judging, but I envied her in a peculiar sense.

"Oh, Amata. What are you doing here?" I was, greeted? By Jonas. He sounded awfully surprised to see me in the clinic, as I scarcely ever showed up to the clinic aside from my daily checkups and to visit Lilly. He must've heard about our friendship issues.

"I'm here to speak to Lilly, if she's not busy." I meekly spoke up, as if I was chocking back my own voice as I spoke.

Before Jonas could even open his mouth to answer me, Lilly entered the main room of the clinic out of her father's private office. She stopped mid-sentence as she looked up from the patient file she had been reading out loud. "Amata, if you need assistance you will have to wait your turn, like everyone else in this vault." She ordered, very sternly. I felt as if she turned more mature and stern while working at the clinic, but maybe she had just changed towards me.

"Umm. I just wanted to speak to you, Lilly." I uttered. Lilly clearly sighed as Jonas left the room altogether.

"I am really busy, Amata. Besides, you said everything you needed to say to me." Lilly spat as she carried on reading the file she held in her hand. I just stared at her, wordless at the very memory of what I had proclaimed to her, out of pure idiocy. "What? Don't remember? Wouldn't expect you to." She huffed.

"You know I didn't mean that. I'm so sorry, Lilly. I didn't know what the hell I was doing or even thinking. You were always my true friend; I can't lose you."

"Oh, really?" Lilly asked, sarcasm filling her voice as she placed the file on the table. "So, when you realize that no one else would help you, you crawl back to me? Well Amata, you can leave, you've said what you had to."

"Please. I'm begging you. Susie doesn't help, she's too busy whoring herself out to Butch, Christine just doesn't care, my father is an ignorant bastard, but you. Well, you're my only true friend." I begged. Lilly sighed as she glanced up at me, her face riddled with angered emotions but her features had softened ever so slightly.

"Ugh. Let's get lunch then. We can talk then." Lilly grunted. She threw her lab coat on the bed in a riled up manner before joining me. I fiddled with my fingers before thinking of a conversation topic to strike up.

"So, how is your marriage with Butch?" I asked, trying to pick my words carefully. I sounded spiteful enough once, I didn't need to sound like a bitch again.

"Shit. How'd you expect it to be? How's Wally?" Lilly scoffed. I felt myself shiver at the very mention of that idiot's name. Lilly was lucky to marry Butch and not some pathetic excuse of a man.

"We were meant to discuss our marriage arrangements. But…"

"But?"

"I may have _ran_ away. I couldn't bare it anymore, my own father marrying me off to his _friend's_ son." I began ranting. At that point I realized the disgusting expression growing on Lilly's face, I felt a certain remorse grow inside of me before I shut my mouth. "I'm sorry. I realize your situation is far worse than mine and I shouldn't have ranted like that."

"It's fine."

Her words were so subtle, as if she hadn't felt a certain hate for me, that was in Lilly's nature to be so forgiving and caring, even when her friend abandoned her. Lilly joined the cue to get her food while I took a seat on the opposite side of the booth, I didn't feel hungry. I caught a glance of Susie with Butch, his hand sliding down her body making their way to her pants, while his other trapped Susie against the wall as their tongues wrestled each other. She was a whore and he was a man whore.

"I didn't know what you wanted, so I brought you – "

I realized that I was still glaring at the sin couple, which made Lilly glance that way. Yet, Lilly didn't look upset more than disgusted and annoyed. "Assholes. I can't believe you get into trouble for their actions. Bullshit."

"Look, don't worry about it."

"I'm sorry you have to deal with that. I mean, I know you hate people sympathizing for you, but I just can't stand seeing you with that piece of shit." My attempt to spread my sympathy to her clearly didn't work, Lilly's face grew more frustrated as I carried on blabbing.

"Amata, just shut up for a moment, will you?" Lilly nearly yelled, she continued to glare behind me as she spoke. "Butch and I aren't _ever_ going to be 'in love' or some shit. Your sympathy isn't helping either and you should probably start thinking about your marriage to Wally."

My heart sank into the pit of my stomach at the mention of his name, Lilly didn't look in any way sympathetic or even caring at that point. Lilly just seemed exasperated. "Lilly. I have to go." I released the words like word vomit.

LILLY

Ugh. Amata had once again wasted my time, I had to study and assist my father, but instead I had – foolishly, mind you – left with Amata. She did nothing but complain about her _miserable_ life, then throw some _sympathy_ at me. That was just in her nature, to always pretend to be all sweet, loving and innocent. I couldn't stand her anymore. I wanted to forgive her, I really did. But every time she managed to mess the opportunity up. Friends forever, right? We were friends since we were in diapers, and now we couldn't stand each other. Or at least I couldn't stand her.

I left the diner to go back to helping my father, he was always encouraging me to leave the clinic more often and be more extroverted. But what was the point? I barely had any friends, and now I was married to my childhood bully. Now, more than ever, I wanted to spend time with my father – feeling some sort of reassurance from my own flesh and blood.

I spend the day cleaning various little things, that normally wouldn't bother a soul, but I began getting more busy with useless things that would keep me from going home. Jonas left the clinic around the same time as I did, with my father leaving earlier than both of us. He worked the whole day without one meal, so he had informed us that he was going to get dinner early, while Jonas and I cleaned up.

"Don't let Butch get under your skin, understand that little lady?" I heard Jonas lecture me, in a very teasing manner.

I let out a small chuckle before carrying on with my sweeping. "Jonas, I'll get under his skin quicker than he will. Trust me."

"I hope so. If he gives you trouble, you come to me. Understood?"

"Yup. Thanks, Jonas." I giggled. Placing the broom back in the corner of the clinic, I gathered my hair up in a bun before removing my laboratory coat. "I'll see you tomorrow. Bye!"

"Bye, bye!"

The apartment was completely empty. I wasn't even surprised, Butch finished work before me, but still had the time of day to leave for hours to go God know where, then come waltzing back into the apartment over an hour after curfew. It still really made me flabbergasted that he could avoid the security around the vault, sure the vault wasn't too small, but security was tight and a few patrolled each area of the vault for a couple of hours before going off their shift. So since Butch was flinging around with Susie, I decided to turn of the personal, little record player my father had passed down to me, and began cleaning up the small apartment we shared.

 _Billie Holiday – Ghost of Yesterday_

A personal favorite. Amata had given me one of her Billie Holiday vinyls to borrow for a few weeks, her and I shared the same love for the singer. I remember when Amata and I used to go to her room after class ended and we'd play all of the old records she owned, we'd dance, laugh and have fun until curfew when Alphonse would send me on my way, even as a child, I was strongly opposed by Alphonse and the rest of the residents of the vault. Amata was always there for me, as I was for her, but something had changed in her, something I couldn't wrap my finger around. I felt like I was more of a shoulder for her to cry on than a friend.

Two hours had gone by, I had changed into my sleepwear and out of my standardized Vault-Tec jumpsuit, I had prepared myself a sandwich before showering and I had removed the small bit of make up I was wearing throughout the day. And as I had suspected, Butch came stumbling into the apartment with a bloody nose, I immediately jumped off the couch before helping the doting idiot I had to call a husband, he was mumbling words I couldn't make out and hair was in a complete mess, the grease was replaced by sweat and a bit of alcohol, from what I could smell. He had a black eye and his nose appeared to be fractured.

I dropped his limp body on the couch before rushing to the bathroom to grab my spare medical supplies. When I came back, Butch lit up a cigarette and began smoking in the apartment, the smoke of the death stick filling the claustrophobic atmosphere of the room. I began coughing as I inched closer to him, I noticed that Butch was completely unfazed by what had happened, he was unfazed that the blood coming out his nose had already reached his chin, and the rest was smeared off by him wiping it away.

"Butch, what the hell happened?" I uttered. He didn't notice my presence at all, despite me walking to the couch before he passed out on the floor. "Butch!"

"What, nosebleed?" _Ironic._ He's the one with the bloody nose. I scoffed before setting my equipment down beside him while I sat on the coffee table.

"Tilt your head back, please." Butch obeyed with a huff. I began dabbing the wrong cloth on his, clearly fractured and bruised, nose, making him hiss at the pain for a slip moment.

"Can you be more careful, nosebleed?" He spat. I tutted before cleaning around his nose, the blood had reached his chin somehow – maybe he didn't notice or he probably didn't care and his leather jacket was too precious to be touched by blood. "Jeez."

"Sorry." I meekly apologized before turning around to the coffee table. "But by the looks of it, you're nosebleed now." I mumbled.

"Shut up, pipsqueak."

I hadn't questioned Butch where he was punched in the nose, or who he was punched by. But I had a good assumption that it must've been Wally, the two had always ended up smashing each other's faces in during the smallest of disputes. It was Wally, he was the aggressive one, I _resented_ his guts. Although I never felt sorry for Butch for taking a punch once in a while, I still felt a certain anger rise in the pit of my stomach. But I knew Butch could hold himself during a fight with – well, anyone really.

As soon as I cleaned his nose up, I went to pile up some pillows on the bed for him to keep his head elevated. It was ideal to sleep on four pillows but it had to happen sometimes, when you do stupid things. I heard a movie play from the main room, while Butch continued grumbling to himself. As soon as I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror, I realized what a hot mess I was today. My hair done up in a messy bun, my makeup began fading and my eyes were bloodshot almost.

"Thanks for patching me up, nosebleed." I heard Butch say from behind me. Startled, I flinched a bit before smiling at him. "But you're still sleeping on the couch, and I'm taking a shower before you."

Wow. As if I didn't see that coming.

oOo


	9. Christmas Part 1

Lilly

A whole month had passed. A month with nothing but unnecessary chaos and madness. I had helped my father in the clinic most of the days, the whole day mind you, so I wasn't apart of much gossip unless Amata or Christine filled me in on it. The whole month Amata spent attempting to regain the friendship she lost, although I didn't put up much of a fight, I had made it clear she wasn't my top priority at the very moment. I sympathized for Amata, I really did, as she got the bad end of the whole marriage shenanigans, marrying Butch wasn't in my intend and I didn't exactly enjoy it, but it wasn't me who married the vault's very own boogeyman.

However, there was one thing I was looking forward to – Christmas! The one time a year my father and I would actually sit together for a meal, properly. Father and I usually enjoyed each other's company, even if it was just the two of us. Despite never liking Butch, I sympathized for him, I doubt that he ever had a proper Christmas with his mom, considering that she would usually wind up in the clinic the night after Christmas, disturbing my father's day off and giving Butch trouble. I never hated Ellen, nor had I held a grudge against her, but I had always sought to find out why Butch behaved like he did, and it was in Ellen and her husband – their broken marriage broke Butch, their only son. It wasn't Wally's fault for the way Butch behaved, although he certainly provoked more anger in Butch.

It was around four in the evening, my father had convinced me to leave the clinic as he thought I should help 'decorate' the tree. Ah, I wish I was even welcome to do that. The only people who ever decorated the tree were Susie, Gloria Mack (Susie's mother), Christine Kendall and Mary Kendall, Christine's mother. Beatrice would sit somewhere close the tree while she wrote a poem, but she didn't volunteer to help very often.

Instead of helping, I retreated to my apartment, where I made myself a light sandwich with a Nuka-Cola. I took a seat on the couch and began munching on the light snack. The door to the apartment slid open to reveal Ellen's thin, quite frail and malnourished frame. I pitied her, I really did. The excess alcohol that began taking over her body was beginning to show, the yellowing skin, her thinning hair, her fragile body and even her shaken voice, was all an indication that she was ill.

"Ms. Deloria, what are you doing here?" I inquired, calmly but demanding. Ellen looked like she was on the verge of tears before she collapsed into my arms, sobbing her own eyes out.

"It's nearly Christmas, and like the shitty mother I am, I hadn't gotten anything for my little Butchie. He hates me, he always has!" I could smell the liquor on her breath as she spoke through her sobs.

"Ms. Deloria, I don't think you should worry. We'll figure something out." My attempts to comfort her seemed to do the trick as she began dabbing the tissue around her eyes, glancing around the room.

"My Butchie, he's always been jealous of you and your father. Bless his soul, your father has always been there for me, Christmas after Christmas, he helped me see the next day." Ellen began, she had shuffled out of my embrace and managed to sit herself beside me on the couch, "I remember him saying that he wanted to have a father like James, he said he hated being around me, I ruined his Christmas. But I never blamed him, I'd hate me too. I've always been a shitty, fucking, messed up mother attempting to raise my son. And look what happened! He's an animal! Behaving like his pathetic father before he died! Lilly, never turn to alcohol, no matter how Butch behaves. He don't know better!"

"Ms. Deloria –"

"Ellen, dear."

"Umm. Ellen." I corrected myself, letting a few seconds of silence pass, "all Butch wants is to have a Christmas with his mother, when she's sober. We can prepare a Christmas meal together for James and Butch, and I'll guarantee that they'll be happy."

"That sounds splendid. Oh, this will be so much fun. Cooking with a daughter in law. Oh, how I've always wanted a daughter."

"That's the plan? I'll come around at about five in the evening on Saturday."

"Sounds great, dear."

Ellen gave me a tight embrace before leaving the apartment. Had I really made dinner plans with Ellen? I huffed before averting my eyes to every corner of the room, there wasn't much to see if I was being honest, the incommodious kitchen only consisted of three counters, stove and fridge with a sink built in one of the counters. The dinner table was placed in the middle of the kitchen with four chairs, they were plain and boring. The couch was placed near the entrance of the apartment, a tv was placed in the corner, the coffee table was on top of the petite carpet and a lounge chair was placed vertically beside the couch.

Butch and I never had the luxury of living in the high end of the vault where his little buddies lived, nor did I have the opportunity to go up to Amata and her her father's apartment that often, he hated me lingering around there. We just weren't what the vault would consider 'worthy' enough. Whether it was Ellen's fault of my father's, it wasn't clear why we hadn't moved up a notch. But we never complained, it was better than living out there.

It was six pm when I decided to go to the diner to grab my dinner, I knew I would either meet Amata or Christine there, even if I wasn't very fond of Amata yet, I still didn't mind hanging with her for half an hour, so long as she didn't complain too much. Either way, the diner wasn't very full. A couple of the officers were having their meals – Wolfe and O'Bryan, I think. Jim and Janice were occupying another booth, old lady Palmer was sitting on the stool with Agnes, while Andy was serving them whatever he was serving. The jukebox was playing 'Blue Moon' by Frank Sinatra, an odd song for this time of the year, if I must say so myself.

I must've assumed wrong, as no one my age was even at the diner at this time. I should've been working late with my father, but like always, he forced me out of the clinic as I should've been studying the female anatomy instead, for science of course. So I sat in silence, reading the book I had brought along with me. It was old, dusty and pages were partly torn out, yet it was a very useful book for me.

"Hey, Lilly." My silence was disrupted by Amata. She looked exhausted, with dark bags under her hazel eyes, her usually neat bun was now an inconsistent mess and her voice was shaky and tired.

"Wow. Being a shift supervisor must be very hard." My dry, yet snide reply made Amata sigh, "I'm kidding."

"It's – it's not as tiring but I didn't want to do a bad job, so I stayed up the whole night before preparing." Amata's voice full of regret said it all.

"Or you couldn't sleep knowing that you had to share a room with your bully." Honestly, I was in no place to pass judgement, yet I carried on provoking Amata like a child.

"Believe it or not, he's not so bad after all. Maybe it's because he's on probation," 'as if that's ever stopped Wally from doing stupid shit', "but he's decent, although we don't speak to one another, I feel a little safer."

"Right. I wouldn't feel safe even if he was standing ten feet away from me. Hey, maybe he likes you!" I teased. I noticed how Amata wrinkled her nose out of disgust.

"No way. Never say that again."

"Hah. Anyway, I agreed to help Ellen to prepare a meal for Christmas, since we'll all be spending it together," I sighed, "it was always better with my father."

"Tell me about it. I can't even imagine what Gloria and Allen are like, those Macks are all business."

"There's some truth in that. I doubt Gloria is as big a bitch as Susie."

"Yeah. Look I have to go, my break is ending in five minutes. Maybe let's meet after work?"

"My shift is already over, and it's six. I have to go help Ellen."

"Shoot. Well, Merry Christmas!"

Amata scurried out of the diner, leaving me on my lonesome. I knew damn well that Amata was trying to let her job eat into her extra time with family and Wally's family, I honestly couldn't blame her. Wally and Susie were bad enough with their constant bullying of whoever wasn't on their 'level', Stevie was just a pathetic little boy hiding in his security uniform and Allen was a dick who raised three of the biggest assholes in the vault. So yes, I understood Amata's reasons very well.

I tied my hair up into a messy bun as I strolled down to Ellen's apartment, it was already six thirty, so no doubt the dinner would have to get pushed forward a bit. I mean it wasn't exactly too bad as my father was still working till around nine and Butch was working till eight.

I heard Christmas music coming from Ellen's apartment as I saw her dancing around the kitchen with one pan in her hand. It was the first time I've seen her so happy. With a genuine smile plastered on my face, I entered the apartment. Ellen immediately dropped the pan on the counter top before rushing to me, grabbing a hold of my hands.

The Ronettes - Frosty the Snowman was playing in the background as Ellen swung me around the kitchen.

"Oh sweetie, let us both enjoy this one day without those two boys." Ellen exclaimed. Her taller frame swinging me around the room. She laughed, she smiled, she was happy. It was all I wanted to see.

"So, what're we cooking?" I clapped my hands as soon as she let go. Ellen averted her eyes from me before scurrying around the kitchen in a haste. The cook book was placed on the counter top beside a bowl full of various vegetables.

"So! I thought that we should make a turkey with some vegetables. We'll have some delicious drinks," I felt my own eyes glare at Ellen with a frown embedded on my face, "oh we will not get drunk. I promise."

"Ellen. How can we be sure? What will Butch think?"

"Don't you worry, dear. I am going to make the most exquisite drink you have ever tasted. I vow that to you."

Reluctantly, I nodded. I just didn't want to see Ellen go back down into the slums with alcohol. Nonetheless, I began peeling the potatoes while Ellen began mixing various of spices and vegetables to use as stuffing for the turkey. My head swirled around to check the time, only to notice that it was already seven. We had basically an hour and a half to get everything ready.

With the potatoes done, I began decorating and preparing the table. I heard Ellen humming while I arranged the plates and silverware.

After going to the bathroom, I walked out into Ellen's bedroom, where I noticed a pretty huge variety of pictures of herself and Butch. They were all pretty much alike, until I saw it - a picture of Alexander, Butch's dad. I inched closer to the bedside table before seizing the picture into my grasp. He was a replica of Butch, or Butch was the replica of him. His hair was slicked back in a jet black shade, due to the colorlessness of the picture, I couldn't tell what his eye color was, but I could've only assumed it was blue, like Butch's. His face was quite thin and his eyebrows were furrowed as he glared into the camera, with Ellen by his side.

Prom.

It must've been.

Ellen herself looked much better, she had clearly gained a few pounds, her hair was quite long, going down to her chest. She had a beautiful smile plastered on her chubby face, and she overall looked healthier. Who know that man was going to drive her into a suicidal state? I looked at Ellen's floor length dress, that had various floral patterns embedded in it. It was magnificent. I remembered her wearing that dress on my wedding day - it looked so much better in real life than in pictures.

That's when the door opened to reveal Ellen.

 **OKAY THIS WAS SHORT AF.** **BUT...** **I'm obviously writing a part two to the Christmas special. With all of my exams over, I can finally sit back and begin to write more chapters, and longer ones too. I also update the story on Ao3 before I update it on this website, don't ask why - I use Ao3 more in general. Apologies for VERY slow updates.**


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